


be not afraid

by FallenNiji



Series: road to strength [1]
Category: Cardcaptor Sakura, Naruto
Genre: ...sort of, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Cardcaptor!Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura-centric, Multi, No Uchiha Massacre, Uzumaki Kushina Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2019-08-19 10:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16533212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenNiji/pseuds/FallenNiji
Summary: Somewhere in another world, a different Konoha, Haruno Sakura’s heart is broken too early. From a want to grow stronger comes a new title, a magical animal, and the impending end of the world. Centuries after Kinomoto Sakura disappeared from Japan, the Sakura Cards are released into the wild and all too dangerous world of shinobi and chakra. Now Kinomoto’s reluctant successor must get to collecting them for the sake of her village and the world itself.





	1. Arc I, Cardcaptor Sakura II; I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arc Summary:  
> After getting her heart broken, Sakura is determined to grow stronger no matter what. Even if it comes with a price – an apocalypse-level price – and a pretty new (and rather ridiculous) title. Now Sakura must collect the cards she scattered across the world with the help of a talking toy all while dodging a suspicious jōnin-level pervert, making friends with a weirdly kind Hyūga and a blind monk, and dealing with her own training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, so my muse is a fickle thing and I've spent way too much time reading Cardcaptor crossovers. There are a lot of good ones (names have been forgotten).
> 
> Some characters might be OOC. And this might move quickly. Sorry, I'm an amateur writer at best and English isn't my strong suit.
> 
> By the way, I'm looking for a Beta so if anyone is interested...?
> 
> EDIT: This was technicallyedited on the 6th of April, but posted a few days later.

Have you ever heard the saying: "Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them"?

In one world, these words could apply to the Child of Prophecy Naruto, Shadow Hokage Sasuke, and mountain-crumbling housewife Sakura.

However, in this world certain events are dealt with differently.

(And that changes everything.)

* * *

 

The day started out normally for the Academy student named Haruno Sakura. Her aunt Mebuki woke her up from what had been a pleasant dream. She couldn’t remember it entirely, but she was certain it involved Sasuke-kun and a marriage proposal. Though, things had gotten a bit _weird_ when some stuffed lion had jumped into the middle of it and tried to protect her chastity, whatever that meant. It was disappointing to realise that it had all been a dream, but that fact did nothing to alleviate her excitement.

Why, you might ask yourself. A dream was not a reason for excitement.

But if the dream involved one Uchiha Sasuke, it was definitely a reason for excitement. After all, she promised Ino-pig that she would confess her love – like and _actual_ confession involving her and Sasuke-kun _alone_ with no Ino-pig to distract them – on the last day of their second-to-last year at the Academy.

And that dream... Well, Sakura didn’t believe in superstitions, but she certainly believed in fate! And that dream of hers must’ve been a message from the gods that they rooting for her! Even if the stuffed lion part was weird.

Sakura greeted her uncle Kizashi good morning, said a quick prayer to Makoto-niisan, and kissed Mebuki-obasan good bye. Then, she grabbed a slice of toast – a single slice wouldn’t do any damage to her figure, of course – before scurrying on out into the streets.

She weaved through the crowds of civilians, some of which she knew and waved to, as she munched on her deliciously crusty and buttered bread. Toast, although not as good as anko dumplings, umeboshi and anmitsu, was her favourite breakfast food. It was light, simple and she didn’t need to spend a lot of time making it.

(Sakura still couldn’t believe that Naruto had the gall to say that ramen was the best breakfast food. She had known that the boy was an idiot, but she hadn’t thought his idiocy reached _that_ far.)

She arrived at the Academy some time before the end of the year speech began. She knew what was going to be in it anyway, so it didn't matter if she listened or not. It _always_ involved something about the Will of Fire, training, loyalty, finally starting on ninjutsu, yadda, yadda, yadda. Staring at the back of Sasuke-kun's head was much more interesting.

Sakura entered the room with a skip in her steps, ignoring almost everyone but Ino-pig, who she sneered at, and the ever aloof Sasuke-kun who barely even looked at her.

 **Wow, he's such a marvellous guy as usual! So cool**! Inner chirped, but there was an odd tilt to her voice. If Sakura didn't know better, she'd say Inner was being sarcastic.

 _I know right!_ She sighed, slipping into the seat right behind the Uchiha Heir.

(Whispers in the village. "Did you hear what that poor boy's awful brother did? His whole family was so horrified they immediately disowned him and—" Whispers. _Rumours_. **_Truths_**.)

Inner sighed, sounding almost rueful. **Where did I go wrong with you…**

 _Hey! That was uncalled for!_ Mentally, she huffed. Physically, she stared at the back of Sasuke-kun's head longingly. Barely two hours left until he was _hers_.

 **No** , Inner's tone dared her to argue, **it really, _really_ wasn't**.

 _You’re awfully rude today._ Sakura pointed out as Ino-pig stood up and started to approach. The Yamanaka Heiress sent her a pointed look, one that reminded Sakura of their promise. She huffed. Like she would ever forget!

Ino-pig slipped into the seat next to her, throwing a long, excited glance at Sasuke-kun. Sakura bristled.

“Forehead,” the pig greeted, voice cold but there was a haughtiness to it that Sakura didn’t like one bit. It was annoying.

“Ino-pig,” her voice was equally as cold, but didn’t carry half the arrogance that Ino-pig's had. Okay, there might’ve been a bit, but oh well. “Good morning.”

“Yes,” her smile was thin and sharp, and she kept taking glances at Sasuke-kun. “It’ll be even better when Sasuke-kun sets you straight.”

Instantly, something ugly started to burn in her stomach and it took all the self-restraint Sakura had – and Inner's murmured warnings – to not wipe that stupid smile off her rival’s face. Attacking a clan hair wouldn’t do her any good. It would basically tell the shinobi that she was a no good, impolite brat. But _oh_ how she wanted to!

 **I’m not in the mood for detention, and so help me if you get us in one, I will cut your hair off and agree to go on a date with Naruto!** Suppressing a shudder at evil, evil Inner’s threat, the rosette replied.

“I think you’ll be surprised, Ino-pig.” She settled for a taunt, knowing it’ll rile up her former friend. Ugh, how could she have ever been friends with this brat?

**Pot, kettle.**

_Hey! What’s that supposed to mean_? Inner didn’t reply.

In spite of her taunt Ino-pig wasn’t the least bit ruffled. In fact, her smile widened and she stood up without a word, and left. Sakura blinked. She hadn’t really expected that from her rival. Maybe some screeching or attempted mutilation, sure, but walking away without a word? That was _weird_.

 **Gotta agree with you there, partner. Something fishy is going on. Or should I say... _Piggy_**. Sakura couldn’t be bothered to hold back the irritated groan that escaped her lips. Thankfully, it was just then that Iruka-sensei entered the room, along with that weird-vibe Mizuki-sensei. Everyone was distracted by their entance, so no one sent her any weird looks.

 _No. That one didn’t even make any semblance of sense!_ Her Inner had the unfortunate habit of making horrible, disgusting puns. Now, Sakura appreciated good puns, mind you, it took a lot of brainpower to make one that made sense. But Inner’s puns tended to make her want to punch something because of how bad they are. And after that one time she nearly caved Naruto's head in during a spar, she wasn’t really fond of them. Iruka-sensei had given her detention for it, even if it had been a Academy approved spar.

 **You wouldn’t know a good pun if it hit you in the face with a kunai and kicked you in the ass!** Inner retorted. She sounded awfully offended.

 _You have me confused with yourself_. Sakura did her best Shikamaru impression because he did the _best_ deadpans.

While Sakura and Inner bickered back and forth on what made a good pun a good pun and why Inner should be banned from making jokes, Iruka-sensei gave the class an inspirational speech. He went on and on about how everyone would one day become proud shinobi and kunoichi of Konohagakure, how proud they should be, and how proud the Hokage was for having such determined youth one day become a part of his forces. She absentmindedly noted that he overused ‘proud’.

Halfway through Mizuki-sensei took over and started to explain what to expect for the following year. In Sakura’s opinion he was much less interesting to listen to. His voice made Sakura want to punch him, but she held back because she was a polite girl. As Mizuki-sensei explained something involving graduation, Sakura thought about the challenges that were to come. They would finally start the practical lessons on genjutsu and ninjutsu. Since she had excellent chakra control Sakura wasn’t worried about that. What she _was_ worried about was keeping hold of her Kunoichi of the Year title and how much she would have to work to keep it from Ino-pig’s grubby hands.

Just as Mizuki-sensei was starting his speech on the requirements for graduation, Konoha’s most ridiculous Uzumaki burst into the room.

“I’M SORRY I'M LATE IRUKA-SENSEI! THERE WAS A GRAY HAIRED BASTARD WHO KIDNAPPED ME AND ASKED ME TO HIDE HIM FROM KAA-SAN, SO I HAD TO HELP, 'TTEBAYO! SORRY!” Both Inner and Outer Sakura cringed at the sheer _loudness_ that was Uzumaki Naruto. They weren’t the only ones.

His voice was only a bit louder than his appearance. With blond hair brighter than a Yamanaka's, blue eyes that Sakura swore couldn’t be found in the Land of Fire, and an outfit that had too much orange – though Sakura thought that there would be more if it wasn’t for the combined power his mother and the Uchiha matriarch – to be on a shinobi, _'loudness'_ was sometimes a too gentle word to be used to describe Uzumaki Naruto.

Iruka-sensei twitched, looking a bit peeved while Mizuki-sensei looked highly unamused.

“Naruto, just—" The brunet sighed and waved his hand in the general direction of the rest of the class. “Sit.”

His expression was long-suffering, for good reason too. Iruka-sensei had been all but adopted into the Uzumaki clan by Naruto and his mother. Sakura didn’t know the exact details, although they were definitely interesting and crazy. To be honest, Sakura sort of pitied him. She knew how Naruto was, and only saw his mother from a distance once or twice, but if she was anything like her son she was definitely... _'loud'_.

The idiot cheered and turned to look for an empty seat. Sakura sunk low into her seat, hoping his eyes would just bypass her altogether.

That didn’t happen, but it didn’t really need to. As soon as he saw the (regretfully) empty seat next to Sasuke-kun, he cheered and shot towards it.

Apparently, their mothers were best friends so the two of them were rather close. Even if they hated each other’s guts. But Sakura suspected it was pretend hate, the same kind she and Makoto-niisan had between them. She thought it was kind of cute, but... Well, it was _annoying_. Because Naruto always hung off Sasuke-kun and annoyed him, and it just—

“Hiya, Sasuke-teme!” The idiot greeted her future lover with that somewhat endearing grin on his face.

“Hn, dobe. Did Kakashi-san really...?” Sasuke-kun sounded curious, so Sakura applied just a bit more chakra into her ears to hear better. She had heard the two of them talk about this 'Kakashi' fellow once or twice before, and from what she’s managed to gleam he was a big brother sort of figure to Naruto.

“Yup,” Naruto was whispering. Mizuki-sensei's voice in the background sounded distant to her, since this conversation was much more interesting. “I think he said something about kaa-san's weight and, well...” He shuddered.

Sakura huffed. No wonder he was late! If someone had called her fat, he’d have to prepare for his own funeral because Sage knows she would’ve kicked his ass into the moon!

Honestly, what was that Kakashi guy thinking? Calling Naruto’s kaa-san fat was akin to ritual suicide. Sakura’s seen that woman’s temper exploding once or twice and it was _terrifying_.

“Moron.” Sasuke-kun agreed with her. Not that he knew. But it was another plus in the 'he'll definitely say yes' bar. They practically shared a mind!

Sakura discreetly snuck a glance at him.

Sasuke-kun was a very pretty person, younger Sakura had decided upon first sight. Although, she had to admit he wasn’t as pretty as his brother, who had been the most beautiful guy in Konoha at one time, despite him being so young. Now that she thought about it, the Uchiha in general were a beautiful bunch. Maybe it was in the genes? Just like any other Uchiha, Sasuke-kun had pale skin with zero marks or blemishes and ink black hair that was both soft and styled in a weird but sweet looking way. His eyes were large and dark, a stark contrast to his pale skin. His face made Sakura want to protect him, hug him, and politely punch him in the face.

She wasn’t all too sure where that last one came from, but it was likely that she had met an asshole Uchiha at one point in her life and their meeting had not gone well. She had a little tingling feeling that his name began with an 'I', and that he had a younger brother. But no matter how hard she tried, she could never recall his name.

“Alright then!” Iruka-sensei clapped his hand together, voice cheerful. The act almost made her jump out of her skin. It was only thanks to her Inner that she didn’t shriek and embarrass herself. It seemed that she had been in her head for longer than the five minutes she had assumed. “That was all that we wanted to say. Have a good break, and don’t forget it’s only for two weeks. After that we’ll be working you to the ground!” He sounded all too cheerful for normally calm and sweet Iruka-sensei.

“Oi, oi, Iruka-sensei...” A bead of sweat dribbled down from Naruto’s forehead, but he didn’t seem all that surprised.

Said teacher simply raised an eyebrow, smiled, and walked out after Mizuki-sensei.

“He’s been hanging around Kakashi-nii way too much to be healthy, 'ttebayo.” The blond grumbled.

Then, as if a switch was flipped, he turned around to face her with that Sage-damned grin on his lips. Sakura thought Inner might’ve melted at that face. It took all her self-control to not follow her. Despite being an idiot, Naruro was adorable. Not in the Sasuke way, but more like a puppy. He was hyperactive enough to pull it off.

“Hey Sakura-chan? Wanna go on a date with me? Ichiraku has some new kind of ramen and I hear it’s great, 'ttebayo!” Sakura wouldn’t mind being Naruto’s friend, if only he just stopped asking her on dates – and to _Ichiraku_ of all places.

“Why would I want to go on a date with _you_ , idiot? Besides, I hate ramen.” She looked at Sasuke-kun, ignoring the blond who looked both horrified and disappointed at her rejection. A blush crawled up to stain her cheeks a pink that rivalled her hair. “Hey, um, Sasuke-kun…?”

“What?” She couldn’t a name on it, but the emotion on his face was somewhere between wary and annoyed.

“Can I, um, talk to you?” A moment later she added, “alone, I mean. Just you and me. Outside. That is, under the tree or something. Please?”

Perhaps it was the please or maybe her hopeful expression, but he nonetheless accepted and stood up. He glanced at something behind her and then muttered something to Naruto that had him perk up and shout a “THANKS!” into the Uchiha's face before he shot out of his seat and left the classroom as if his angry mother was on his heels.

The exchange went unnoticed by the rosette, who was too busy trying to calm down her racing heart and mind. She was sure that Sasuke-kun would agree to go out with her, but there was that big 'what if' that she couldn’t entirely ignore. Ino-pig had seemed so smug earlier, so what if she had just ignored the promise and went and snagged him all for herself? Or what if he already had some girlfriend, who was older or younger or a _civilian_?

And then there was that other 'what if' she tried to ignore. What if she was just too ugly for him? What if her forehead was too big? What if her hair was too weird, her eyes too bright and her body too thin or fat or _something_? What if he won’t go out with her because she’s from a civilian family?

Before her thoughts could delve into the depressing and weird, the two of them arrived outside. At first, she thought they would go to that tree with the swing that Naruto and Sasuke-kun both frequented so much, but it he brought her to the side of the Academy, a place she usually didn’t notice since it was hidden between some trees.

Her cheeks managed to redden even more.

“What do you want?” His tone was long suffering, as of he expected something. What it was, Sakura didn’t exactly know.

“Um, well,” she took a deep, steadying breath and looked him in the eye. Her heart didn’t sound like hers at the moment; it was too loud and too quick and she felt as if it were about to pop right out of her chest and disappear into the sky.

“Willyougooutwithme?”

She didn’t dare breath. Or blink. Or gulp. Or do anything really. She was sure that even her heart had stopped in anticipation of his answer. She was doing her best imitation of a statue. Or a tree. The only thing of hers that even moved was her hair and clothes, which shifted slightly as the wind blew.

She looked straight into Sasuke-kun's eyes (when did she look away?) for a single moment, and her heart plummeted.

There was no warmth in those eyes. Not the joy or surprise or excitement or happiness she expected. No, what greeted her was annoyance, disgust, and a _coldness_ of which she had never seen before.

Inner was still, silent, like she was holding her breath and whispering a name. Sakura didn’t bother to listen.

And even before he opened his mouth, she knew what was coming.

Sakura expected a 'no'.

But what he said was much worse.

“You’re a weak, useless, rude civilian _brat_. You don’t know what it’s like to suffer, or work hard, or be in the shadow of someone you love. You’re also a total bitch to Naruro. Your only redeeming qualities are your brain and exotic looks. You might be the Top Kunoichi of our year, but it's only due to your smarts. Physically, you’re most likely the weakest of our year group. Even the Yamanaka can take you out in a spar.” He paused. “There’s no reason why I should be your friend, let alone date you.”

With a last frigid glare at Sakura's frozen form, he stalked away looking for his best friend. He was tense and the expression on his face was enough to make any loitering students scatter.

And Sakura?

She stood stalk still. Her eyes were wide and glistening with unshed tears as she stared at the Uchiha symbol on the Heir's back. His words echoing in her head.

Useless, weak, civilian, brat, _weak_.

Was... Was that what he thought of her?

 **And you wondered why I hated his guts**.

 _Inner. Just. No. Just_. She turned in the opposite direction he went, and walked a bit dazed.

She thought on his words as she exited the Academy grounds by climbing over a wall. She thought on them long and hard, ignoring everything and everyone on the streets of Konoha. Tears that wouldn’t fall in front of him fell in front of people who didn’t even spare her even a single glance.

He told her she didn’t know what it was like to suffer, but that wasn’t particularly true. She hadn’t suffered like Naruto, whom half the village hated, or like Sasuke, whose own brother betrayed the village, or even like Hinata, whose own uncle had died to protect her. But she _did_ know suffering. The graves of the parents she never knew and the brother who she loved were proof of that.

Part of her wanted to go up to him and give in to the urge of punching his lights out, or maybe curl up in some alley and cry her heart out. But if she did that, she would be proving him right, wouldn’t she?

If she chose option A, she would be showing him that she couldn’t control her emotions – and what kind of shinobi lost control? The weak kind.

And if she went with B, well – option B was so civilian brat that it made her skin crawl.

Sakura's heart was broken by a few harsh words from her crush. Ex-crush? Unrequited crush? She didn’t know what he was to her anymore.

But she couldn’t break down or punch him, so what should she do?

Quit the Academy?

She snorted out loud as soon as the though entered her mind. Like hell! She survived in that place despite the bullying in earlier years, her rivalry with Ino-pig, and the teachers ignoring her because she was the only civilian-born in the whole class. All that caused her to have a strong will and helped her refine her stubbornness. Like hell she’s quitting!

All of a sudden, she had a thought. She stopped in the middle of some street.

 **Er, partner**? Inner was oddly subdued. Maybe the rejection had startled and hurt even her?

 _Sasuke-kun was right_. She breathed out, eyes wide.

**Wait, what?! Oh hell no, you are not starting with this depression crap even if I have to—**

_But he was_. Sakura stated firmly, silencing her partner. _We’re weak, and the only thing that helped us stay in the Academy was our brain. And it’s going to help us prove Sasuke-kun wrong too._

 **Partner? What**...

Sometimes, Sakura suspected she got most of the intelligence between the two of them.

She sighed.

_We’re have a brain, but no physical powers to back it up. We can think of plans and come to logical conclusions in just a few minutes._

**Or seconds, depending on the situation.**

_Yeah. And Sasuke-kun was right. Even Ino-pig can beat us in a spar. To prove Sasuke-kun wrong we have to get stronger and take the Top Kunoichi title not just in the theoretical part, but the practical part as well._

**Oh, and how are we gonna do that genius? Wish upon a shooting star and hope a road to strength will open up?** Inner scoffed. **Partner, no one’s going to pay a civilian-born midget any thought even if you want to become a strong kunoichi. The clan kids have their clans to lean upon to get strength, and even that idiot Naruto has his scary kaa-san, Iruka-sensei and that mysterious Kakashi-nii of his to learn from. We have no one. It’s just _us_.**

That was a bit depressing but no less true.

Civilian-born shinobi tended to end up as paper-nin or eternal genin because no one ever bothered to seriously train them.

For a moment, Sakura paused and thought on what she should do. She could quit while ahead, or she could push forward even with all those things against her.

And one of those options provided a way for her to be strong and prove Sasuke-kun wrong.

 _Well_ , she grinned and wiped her face with the sleeve of dress, _I think we can start by buying bandages, weapons, weight, books and all sorts of stuff in that store over there._

She gestured to an odd-looking store no one seemed to be going in. Something told her her 'road to strength' was in there somewhere.

**Do you even have the money?**

_I’ll manage._

As she got closer, she noticed that no one even glanced at the store despite its all-around weirdness. It was ordinary enough, hidden behind a tall brown fence that had a few trees grown inside of it. But was what truly odd were the gold coloured crescent moons decorations on its roof and entrance. Taped on the sliding doors of the entrance was a quick note that said: 'We will provide anything you wish as long as you pay the price. Equivalent exchange and all that.’

Something about that note momentarily made her pause before she outstretched a hand to open the sliding doors.

**Hope you have the price, partner. I get the feeling ripping these people off would be a bad decision on our part.**

_Yeah_.

The door opened on its own.

The first though that crossed her mind upon seeing the girls called Maru and Moro was: _I didn’t know dolls came in those sizes_.

Because they really did look like life sized dolls with their delicate features, long limbs and blank smiles. The one on the right had long blue hair and was dressed in darker clothes than the one on the right, who had pink hair much like Sakura’s. They also looked quite similar to each other, colouring aside. Twins, perhaps?

Then, they greeted her simultaneously: “Welcome! The master has been expecting you!”

 **Okay, Partner. I think this is about the time you make a break for it**. Even Inner sounded a bit disturbed at the two girls'... Well, strangeness.

Sakura agreed, but her body wouldn’t. In fact, when the two girls surged forward to grab her arms giggling and pull her inside, her body walked forward without a fight.

**Partner! I said—**

_I know what you said, but my body is moving on its own!_

**What**? Inner sounded completely shocked. Not that Sakura could blame her. Shock, along with hurt and determination, was an emotion they shared at the moment.

The two girls stopped in front of a sliding door, which they then opened after letting her go. She thought that the way they did it was a bit dramatic.

“Master! She’s here! She’s finally here!” The doll like girls cheered.

The figure leaning on some cushions wore an extravagant kimono. Sakura almost mistook him for a woman. But he was definitely a man, no matter what that pretty face and those long limbs said. And _boy_ , was that face pretty. The ebony haired man's oddest feature must’ve been his eyes, one of which was blue, the other a green much like to her own. That feature didn’t make him any less unattractive.

He smiled as soon as he spotted her and stood up in a single, elegant movement that she knew most kunoichi couldn’t pull off as flawlessly as he did.

His beauty and elegance somewhat reminded her of Uchiha Itachi who was all serene smiles and prettiness, and who also murdered Councilman Danzō and all of the Uchiha Elders. It made her want to flee the room, but her body wouldn’t comply with her wishes.

This man, who the two girls called 'Master', was both beautiful and deadly. That much even an untrained civilian-born like Sakura could understand.

“Haruno Sakura! It’s a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance, I’ve been expecting you for quite some time now.” He smiled serenely, as if he hadn't just said such a creepy thing. “Maru, Moro. Thank you for bringing our guest here. Would you go make us some tea?”

“You’re welcome, Master! And of course!” The one dressed in dark colours, who 'Master’ had called Maru, chirped.

“You’re welcome, Master! And of course!” The other rosette in the room echoed her twin.

 **Ugh, this place is really creepy**. Inner shuddered.

 _You’re telling me_.

Once the two left, the man turned back to her and chuckled. “Don’t mind those two. They’re mostly harmless, so you needn’t worry. Now,” he clapped his hands and one moment he was standing, the next he was once again sitting. He inclined his head towards a cushion Sakura hadn’t noticed, and spoke: “Go ahead and sit down, Sakura-chan. Oh, may I call you that?”

Cautiously, Sakura sat down. “Uh, go ahead. I don’t mean to be rude, but who are you?”

“Oh, I never introduced myself?” He blinked. “I am Watanuki Kimihiro, please call me 'Watanuki-san'.”

“Alright, Watanuki-san.” She paused, unsure as how to continue. “Um, what is this place? A shop? And how did you know my name? Wait, scratch that, you were _expecting_ me?”

 **Once again, creepy**.

“For quite some time.” He sighed and slumped dramatically. “It was actually getting quite boring around here. And when I say here, I mean the Wish Granting Shop you’re currently sitting in. Which I am the proud owner of. Maru and Moro are my helpers.”

“Wish granting shop?” It sounded ridiculous.

“Yes. I can grant wishes for a price. Via magic, and other things.” Sakura remembered the sign at the front.

“Equivalent exchange, right? The value of the wish must equal the price? Or something like that.”

Watanuki-san looked delighted. “She did say you would be intelligence.”

“She?”

He waved a dismissing hand. “That’s not important right now.”

Sakura would very much like to disagree on that, but before she could Maru and Moro returned, both lending a hand to carry a tea tray. Watanuki-san's face lit up in delight as they placed a pleasant-smelling cup of tea in front of him. Sakura took a whiff of her own cup, and the smell of camomile made her relax. She didn’t think it was poisoned.

“Thank you, you two. Now, can you go fetch the book?” The two pouted, but muttered a “yes, master” and left once again.

Watanuki-san took a sip of his tea.

“Hey, Sakura-chan, would you care to tell me your wish?”

She blinked. “You want to know _my_ wish?”

“Yes, please. After all, only those who need wishes fulfilled can find this shop.” That at least explained why no one even glanced at it.

“Well,” she licked her dry lips and decided to take a sip of the pleasant smelling – and tasting – tea. She thought it over, and really, she could’ve said something to do with love, but instead she said: “I want to be stronger.”

“Oh?” He leaned forward, and there was something in his eyes that she couldn’t put a name to. “And why is that?”

“Well, it might sound stupid, but...” Hesitation was her current best friend. Because now that she thought of it her reason did sound stupid. Wanting to be strong because of a boy? That’s something a silly civilian girl might say.

But the Shopkeeper was not so easily swayed. “Nothing is stupid, unless you let it.”

“I confessed to a boy I liked since I was young, and he rejected me. But... He was harsher than he needed to be about it, and told me I was just a spoiled civilian-born brat that hadn’t suffered. That I was weak. And other stuff that I don’t remember.” She remembered it word for word, but he didn’t know that. “I want to prove him wrong. I want to be strong enough so I can shove it in his face, and maybe one day I'll even be strong enough to beat him.” At his stare her cheeks reddened. “I know, it’s petty. But I do want to be strong. Not just because of him. But because I don’t want to be seen as weak or useless. After all, if he thinks all that about me then I'm pretty everyone else does too.”

“Hm,” he rested his chin in his hand and looked deep in thought. “Well, it is petty. But you are still a child, and you’ll mature. One day, you'll even gain a different reason for your strength...”

Then, as if an idea smacked him in the face, he straightened up and gained a gleam in his eyes. “That’s perfect! I have just the right price for you!”

Sakura was right to be apprehensive. The next words out of his mouth made her freeze.

“If I grant you a road to strength, then you’ll have to give me the reason why you decided to become stronger. More specifically, you'll let me take your feelings towards Uchiha Sasuke, the memories of your confession, and I’ll give you something that will help you achieve the strength you came here for!” He spread his arms out wide.

Sakura idly wondered why everyone was so _dramatic_ around here. Seriously, was it a guy thing? A shinobi thing?

It was not the time to think about that, however. At the moment, she was far more focused on the price she would pay.

“W-What...”

**Holy shit.**

“How would you even take that?” She shot up, red faced and wide eyed.

“Via magic.” He shrugged.

“What if I refuse?”

Something flashed in his eyes but it was gone far too soon for her to understand it. “If you refuse, you will leave here with your memories and feeling, but without your wish granted. You will have to search for a teacher, and I doubt anyone would take you on. You’re a civilian-born, pink haired kunoichi wannabe, and no one has time for that. Of course, you can always wait a few years for a mentor to come along or you can wait for a jōnin sensei. But let’s be honest here, he’ll most likely ignore you if favour of your teammates. And by then, gaining the respect of your peers would be rather hard.”

Maru and Moro then returned, but not with a book. It was a chest which they carried, made out of a light-coloured wood. The bottom of the chest was covered in a different kind of wood, painted a pale pink. There was a simple lock holding it tightly shut, but there was no keyhole like she expected. The lock was shaped like a cherry blossom.

“I told you to get the book?” Watanuki-san looked bemused.

The two helpers giggled and started to speak. “But we did. The book is in the chest, which that woman entrusted us with. She said that there would be helpful things that would aid her successor. Remember?”

“Oh, right.” He blinked and turned to look at the thoughtful rosette. The twins placed the chest next to her, so she looked at it. “Well, what do you say Sakura-chan? Do you want the chest?”

The girl didn’t exactly know how a chest was supposed to help. Maybe there were katas and books in it? But what did the girls mean by ‘successor'?

_Hey, Inner, what do you think?_

**Me?** She sounded surprised. **You’re the one in charge.**

_Yes, but this is your body too. So you have a say in it as well._

**Jeez why couldn’t you be this thoughtful during your crush on Sasuke?** Sakura very carefully did not react at his name.

 _Because I was_... A pause. _Stupid, I guess. Naïve._

**Yeah, you were.**

_So?_

**... I think you should get our wish granted. Things like this don’t happen twice. Besides, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get a good teacher if you refuse. Sage knows that unless we get a civilian-born sensei, they’ll ignore us in favour of the clan kids. Watanuki-san is correct.**

_Thanks, Inner_. She smiled.

Inner stayed silent before replying in a soft voice. **You’re welcome, partner**.

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the smiling Watanuki-san and the curious, almost eager Maru and Moro.

Taking a deep breath and saying goodbye to her memories and feelings and her crush, Sakura hardened her gaze and said in a clear voice:

“Alright. So, how much will this hurt?”

 

 


	2. Arc 1, Cardcaptor Sakura II; II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively; Sakura makes a new, out-of-the-world friend, learns that flowers are terrifying, and gets tricked into being the Cardcaptor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Edited on the 7th of April 2019 but not posted until later.

In all honesty, Sakura didn’t exactly know how she ended up in this mess. Well, she _did_ know but she was still trying to process it. It wasn’t every day a flying stuffed toy popped out of a book and informed you of the possible end of the world, offhandedly commenting it was your fault, after all. Give her some slack.

“That was a lot harder than I expected it to be.” The said flying stuffed toy – apparently called Keroberus – huffed and joined her on the blessedly flower-free ground.

“That’s one way to put it.” She wheezed. She could barely move, was sweating enough that she could fill a small river or who, and would _really_ love not seeing anything even remotely flower-like for at least a month. Which was ironic, considering her own appearance and name.

 **Well, look at it this way partner**. Sakura loathed to hear what Inner was going to say. That amount of glee should be illegal considering they were the same person. **You saved Konoha from a vengeful magic flower. Not everyone can say the same. And no one can really say that they got their ass kicked by her too.**

 _Shut it, Inner_. She grumbled back.

“I don’t get it. FLOWER was supposed to be the easy one. She should’ve just grabbed you for a dance and then given herself up.” At least she wasn’t the only unhappy camper around. Keroberus – ugh, that name was too long, she should shorten it – sounded as if his whole worldview had been flipped upside down.

“If that was supposed to be easy, I’m not looking towards meeting the hard cards.”

Keroberus groaned. “I’m so going to need _so_ _much_ cake after this.”

Sakura found herself inclined to agree. How long has it been since she’s had a nice, tasty cake all for herself? It felt like years, though she didn’t know how she resisted.

She lifted her head and immediately let it fall back down. Her body was sore in places she wasn’t even aware existed until today, and her empty chakra reserves appalled her. Her reserves had emptied halfway through her impromptu game of tag with THE FLOWER, which was an embarrassment for the kunoichi-in-training. How was she supposed to be a strong protector of her village if she lost use of her chakra five minutes into a fight? She really needed to up her game during the break, or she was going to fail graduation.

Perhaps Keroberus – nickname, nickname, his name was _too_ _long_ – could help her train? He was from another world after all, so he would surely have some foreign tricks to show her.

Sakura still wondered how she ended up in some random training ground with a flying alien plush toy, both of them exhausted after chasing a magical card that was the representation of flowers Oh, yeah, and she couldn’t forget the possibility of the end of the world looming over their heads.

She certainly didn’t expect to end up here this morning.

In all honesty, she was blaming Watanuki-san and his wish granting shop.

* * *

 

Sakura woke up to a pounding headache. Which was rather uncommon since Inner usually protected her mind from them, and she could’ve sworn she hadn’t pulled an all-nighter. In fact, she was pretty sure she fell asleep sometime in the morning, after Watanuki-san laid her down on the comfy futon and proceeded to take the price for her wish.

She shot up and her world spun.

For a few dizzying seconds all she could see was the soft pink of her walls mixing with the other colours of her room – when did she get back? – and the dark spots that clung to the corners of her sight.

Then—

 **For the love of the Sage, Sakura! Don’t sit up so fast!** Inner’s voice rang out loud and clear from inside her head. She sounded as if she went against a Kage and lost. _Badly_. **As your mind’s last line of defence, I am very much in pain right now and you sitting up so suddenly does not help.**

She cringed. If _she_ had a horrible headache, Inner must be having one ten times worse.

 _Sorry_ , she replied meekly, trying not to rile up her counterpart anymore than she already is.

No answer.

Unsurprised, Sakura laid down and closed her eyes. Then she rolled and rolled and rolled until she fell from her bed and onto the soft brown carpet decorating the floor. All she felt was a dull ache, the pain from her mind taking the front seat.

She opened her eyes and spread herself on the carpet, staring at her soft pink ceiling. She remembered that time so many years ago when she, Makoto-niisan and Kizashi-ojisan painted the walls of her room. It had been a lot of fun, with Makoto-niisan teasing her for not being able to reach high due to seven-year-old Sakura’s height. She had splashed pink paint into her brother’s bewildered face, which led to him retaliating, and then Kizashi-ojisan joined in on the fun. Despite Mebuki-obasan coming in with refreshments and scolding them for making such a mess, it was one of Sakura’s fondest memories.

Sakura smiled sadly. With her training to be a kunoichi, Mebuki-obasan taking more shifts at the painfully understaffed hospital, Kizashi-ojisan too busy with paperwork and with Makoto-niisan not being around anymore, it felt like a lifetime ago.

Suddenly, a thought struck her like one of Hyūga Hinata’s not-so-gentle fists to the gut.

_Oi, Inner?_

**Hm?** She grunted, still half asleep.

 _I really hope we actually got something to help us get stronger—_ (there was a flash of confusion, _why_ did she want to be strong?)— _and didn’t get ripped off by a pretty man and his creepy servants._

**Or get a jutsu placed on us that will force us to be a spy for him or force us to kill someone or make us commit treason or—**

_Please, for the love of all things sweet, do_ not _continue with that train of thought. I’ll never be able to forgive myself if any of that’s true._ She sighed, and everything went blissfully silent.

For a few precious moments Sakura could pretend nothing life changing happened in the past 24 hours. There was no Watanuki-san, no pessimistic Inner, no threats of strange jutsu placed on her while her memory was wiped. It was just her, her comfy little carpet and her pain-in-the-ass headache.

Of course, like all things peaceful, it was broken by such a small thing.

A thud, coming from somewhere to her right. Reluctantly, she looked and found herself staring at the strange chest the doll-like twins had carried into the room. She remembered Watanuki-san saying something about a book, and the twins something about helpful items from _her_. Who that ‘ _her’_ was, neither Sakura nor Inner knew.

 _We might as well open it_. She pushed herself up and crawled over to it. She couldn’t really be bothered to stand up right now. It was too – dare she say it – troublesome.

 **Probably** , Sakura could imagine Inner giving her a shrug. **But there’s no key.**

Of course there wasn’t. Watanuki-san just had to make everything more difficult than it already was, didn’t he?

Sakura cradled her chin in her hands and thought about the next course of action. She doubted the pretty shopkeeper would give her a chest that was impossible to open, since she paid that price and had the headache to show for it. She _could_ try to break it open with a kunai, but there was a chance that she would damage the contents so she wasn’t willing to risk it yet. An idea came to mind, making her perk up.

Sometime during this year her class had a lesson on sealing. Naruto had been even more excitable than usual, which she could sign off to his mother being a Seal Mistress and both of them being from the long scattered Uzumaki clan. Iruka-sensei had talked a bit about Uzushiogakure, the hidden village Uzumaki Kushina was from, which had been a close and very dear ally of Konoha since its founding. Sadly, it had been destroyed a few years before the Third Great Shinobi War started, scattering or killing the Uzumaki it had been known for.

She only remembered bits and pieces of it, as it had been a challenging lesson even for her.

“Fūinjutsu,” Iruka-sensei had said, “is a very delicate and _extremely_ dangerous art. Few masters of this art still exist. The only known masters are Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin and Konoha’s Uzumaki Kushina. It is a difficult art to learn and most shinobi in Konoha don’t know how to make the most basic of seals, instead relying on mediocre sealing scrolls and tags any shinobi can buy in a store.”

And—

“Typically, while preforming or creating more complex fūinjutsu, blood is used to either open a scroll or even when summoning animals and signing their contracts. Some fūinjutsu can only be activated by the blood of a specific person or a specific clan, so be careful not to let any spill on a trap designated for you.”

 **It wouldn’t hurt to try.** Inner took a metaphorical step back and hid behind some rocks. **Go ahead, Partner.**

 _Coward_. She shot back half-heartedly before grabbing a kunai from her pouch – she was still in her clothes from before the morning. She was told people should bite their finger but Sakura honestly didn’t know how other shinobi did it. She always had to pull back because it hurt to much.

She carefully sliced her finger, wincing at the sharp but small stab of paint that greeted her. Slightly nervous, she glanced at the box before taking in a deep breath and squaring her shoulders.

 _Well, here goes nothing!_ She swiped at the lock and quickly scooted backwards. If it exploded or some kind of ungodly creature of great destruction appeared and killed her, she was haunting Watanuki-san’s Gift Shop for life.

Nothing of that sort happened. A sound that was definitely a lock unlocking pierced the uncomforting silence of her room.

Both Sakuras sighed in relief.

Sakura gathered up her remaining courage and approached the chest, took the lock off, and opened it. There were a lot of books – much more than she thought capable of fitting in a chest that size. Some were in an entirely different language she didn’t recognise. There was also an odd-looking necklace, a few old robes and what she suspected was a kimono and finally, a bright pink book with an almost childlike quality to it. For some reason the book was what drew her attention the most.

The book was bright pink and there seemed to be symbols – a star, a sun, a moon – made out of gold on the front It had a clasp at the side that reminded her of a wing. But what really caught her attention was the name engraved at the top. Her heart skipped a beat. There, at the top in romaji, was _her_ name.

‘ **SAKURA’**

But… something in her told her that she wasn’t _that_ Sakura, the one the book belonged to. Was that Sakura the ‘ _she’_ the twins and Watanuki-san were referring to?

 **Go on, open it.** Inner seemed eager and almost childishly happy.

She complied and was surprised to find that it didn’t have pages despite its appearance. Instead, there was a small space carved into it. And it was definitely not empty. There was a stack of bright pink – was this a jab at her hair? – cards in it and, curious, she flipped the first one over.

Painted on the card was an elegant, almost fae-like woman with closed eyes and expression serene. Pink eyebrows furrowed as she struggled to pronounce the word written on the card. It was definitely foreign, written in romaji, so there was a possibility it was one of the languages of the Far East.

“Win-Winu…dee?” Oblivious to the slight breeze that was playing with her hair, Sakura turned her full attention to the card. “Winu…dy? WINDY?”

And really, the Academy should’ve taught their students to never read aloud mysterious words unless they wanted to kick-start the apocalypse years too early.

An elaborate seal appeared beneath her person and Sakura startled, nearly dropping the card. Then, the card and the seal started to glow and everything else faded to dull greys and blacks. A huge gust of wind appeared throwing her whole room into disarray. Her bedcovers, small knickknacks and other such things were flung into the wall – later she would swear to never leave kunai lying around again – and the window was flung open.

The cards, which for some reason she could almost _feel_ ( _excited, angry, confused, scared, whereisshewhyisshenothere?_ ), were scattered – carried by the wind and disappearing into the mid-afternoon sky.

Once it died down, the only things not affected were the now card-free book and the chest.

Panting, Sakura stared at the card in a mixture of horror, awe and incredulousness. Was it some sort of seal to have so much power? What the hell did that damned shop keeper give her?

**That was unexpected.**

“ _You don’t say_.” Her voice might’ve sounded a _tad_ hysteric.

Then the book started to glow – because why not? – and a flying stuffed lion slowly rose from the cover. Sakura wondered if she was in some sort of horror-comedy novel, because that was simply _ridiculous_. And terrifying.

His small eyes popped open and he – it? – grinned.

“it’s sure has been a while, Sakura!” What. “Man, am I glad to see you. We thought you were dead when neither Yue or me could find you via magic, so I’m glad you finally—eh?”

The stuffed animal – Sakura felt like laughing hysterically, because _what_? – paused and started to stare. She, of course, stared back at it. Unconsciously, her hand drifted over to the discarded kunai. Just in case.

“You’re not Sakura.” He appeared to be dumbfounded.

“No, I am.” She found herself saying. “That’s my name, Haruno Sakura. How do you know it?”

The creature’s breath hitched. He floated closer causing her to edge away and lift the kunai so he could see it. He paused, staring at the knife as if he couldn’t believe it existed.

“Hey, kid—”

“ _Sakura_.” She was eleven, thank you very much. She was nearly an adult (via shinobi standards) and she would not accept being called a kid!

“When and where is this?” Odd question.

“Konohagakure no Sato, in the Land of Fire. Sixty-one years after Konoha’s founding.” She blurted out, still in a slight daze.

“What.”

Sakura wondered if he was unfamiliar with Konoha’s age, so she continued to further pinpoint the timeline for the creature. “Approximately nine hundred years after the Sage of Six Path’s time.  About thirteen years since the Third Great Shinobi World War ended.”

“Wait a second, the last I checked there were only two world wars!” He squeaked. “Don’t tell me Germany started another conflict.”

“What’s Germany?” Her tongue rolled awkwardly as she tried to pronounce the name.

The thing paused. Then, as if he just realised, he pointed at her and said: “Your hair is pink. You mentioned some place called Konoha-something-something, and some sort of Sage, and ninjas. And you have a knife.”

“It’s a kunai actually.”

He didn’t seem to hear her because suddenly he swayed and gently floated down to her bed. Something in his expression made her wince. It looked as if he just realised something… heart-breaking. And for some reason, that expression made her want to hug him. Even if he was some sort of strange alien.

“Oh,” his quiet and gentle tone made alarm bells ring in her head. “So that’s why you… Sakura, just how long ago did you leave? Why?” He asked, just barely above a whisper but it was clear the question was not for her to answer.

“Um, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but who the hell are you? No wait, _what_ are you? You better talk, you—you crazy ball of plush or I’ll make a normal stuffed toy out of you!” Alright, so maybe her insult and threat weren’t the best, but semantics.

The creature snorted but eyed her kunai warily. Then he puffed out his chest and told her proudly: “I am Keroberus, the Guardian Beast of the Seal! I’m the one who guards the book, trains the new Cardcaptor—” something in his expression stuttered, but his cheery smile was back before she could question it, “and I also make sure the Sakura Cards are right where they’re supposed to be. Speaking of,” his eyes shifted towards the card held loosely in her hand. Sakura’s heart stopped; last time she checked they certainly were _not_ where they’re supposed to be. “What card is that?”

Not trusting herself to speak, she flipped it over so he could see. His smile froze and Sakura, fearing the worst, hurried to explain. “I didn’t mean to, honest! But I was curious and the word was foreign and I wanted to try my hand at pronouncing it because, y’know, not many books in romaji in these parts—how was I supposed to know it was some elaborate seal that generated wind? You didn’t exactly put a warning sign up, so if anything, it’s your fault!”

He sputtered, “My fault? You’re the kid dumb enough to read words from a magic tome!”

Her cheeked reddened. He wasn’t wrong. “Still, you’re supposed to be the Guardian of them, right? You should’ve at least put a gentler sealing card at the top instead of one that scatters the other cards to who knows where! Idiot!” She tacked on the last word as a last thought.

He stared at her. “Well, you’re not wrong. But you’re an idiot too, idiot.” Before she could fire back something in her defence, he told her in a no-nonsense tone of voice. “Congratulations, by scattering the Sakura Cards you just volunteered to be the Cardcaptor.”

“Wait, what?” Her eyes widened. “I can’t be the Cardcaptor, whatever that is! I’m going to be a kunoichi of Konoha by this time next year so I need to focus of my training.” She told him firmly.

Keroberus’s nose twitched. “I’m going to assume that being a ninja doesn’t just mean being a killer for hire. Because if it does, I doubt you’d make a good successor for the former Mistress of the Cards.”

 **Was the former mistress also called Sakura?** Inner wondered.

“Of course it doesn’t mean being a killer for hire!” Her voice was fierce and it took everything she had in her to not hurl the kunai at him. Being a shinobi meant much more than that. “When someone graduates the Academy and becomes a shinobi of their village, they become its protectors. Shinobi protect the civilians from other villages, shinobi, bandits and things like that. Shinobi take on lots of types of missions; from assassination to acting as a guard for a merchant caravan. Some shinobi can even become medics by moulding their chakra into medical chakra. Shinobi aren’t _just_ killers, y’know!”

He looked a bit surprised at her outburst but also much more relaxed. “Well that’s a relief.” A pause, “Wait, what’s chakra?”

“Chakra is something that all living creatures have. It’s essentially a sort of life energy that’s a combination of spiritual and physical energy. Shinobi can do all sorts of things with chakra like create illusions, heal people, make seals, and stuff like that. Most civilians don’t know how to mould their chakra, only shinobi and some Academy and clan kids do.”

“So… it’s like magic?” He mused.

Sakura shrugged. “I don’t know much about magic, except that you can take memories, grant wishes and make plush toys talk with it. And that magic can be sealed into cards, I guess. But chakra and magic are a bit similar.”

Keroberus’s head shot up, “Taking memories?!” He was clearly alarmed.

Blinking in bemusement, she gave him a half smile. “Yeah, don’t you know? I made a deal with Watanuki-san. He’d give me a way to get stronger in exchange for some of my memories. I got a chest from it. And you and the cards, I guess.”

“Watanuki? Well, that certainly confirms my other world theory.” Sakura gasped. “What chest did he give you, kid?”

She absentmindedly gestured to the chest across from her while pondering his words. He was clearly familiar with Watanuki-san, and mentioned something about other worlds. Did that mean he was from another world? Well, it would make sense considering his magic and general alien-ness. Did that mean Watanuki-san was also an alien?

“Well, isn’t this interesting.” Keroberus whistled impressed. “Here, come take a look kid. There’s a bunch of cool stuff in this chest.”

 **I’m a bit curious, let’s go and check it out partner!** Inner suggested eagerly. Sakura saw no harm in it so scooted forward and peered at the things the Guardian Beast took out.

There were certainly a lot of books. Some were on medicinal herbs and plants in general, some on medicine, others she noticed were story books. A thick brown book bound in a leather strap caught her eye. She picked it up out of curiosity and read the title – _Ninshū and Chakra_. She’s never heard of the first one so it seemed like an interesting read. Her eyes scanned the page until it fell on some faded green romaji letters. The surname could’ve been Hyūga or Himura for all her eyes could tell, and the author’s name Sayuri or Satoshi. She sighed in disappointment and placed it back down.

She eyes the other things in the same amount of curiosity. Like she had seen before there was a kimono – a very pretty mint green one with sakura petals and long, long sleeves. Sakura could see herself wearing it during the next festival. There were also some white robes, a dark cloak that she could see one of those fortune tellers wearing, a green ribbon that looked taller than Iruka-sensei, and a necklace. It was simple; black string and on it was a single tomoe made out of what seemed like jade.

She heard a gasp from behind her and turned, spotting her new acquaintance holding something in his hands—paws. She squinted at it. It might’ve been another necklace.

“Hey, kid. What was your name again?” He cradled the necklace to his tiny stuffed chest. She bit her lip but told him anyway. Keroberus snickered a bit at hearing it and told her; “The former Card Mistress’s name was Sakura too. Kinomoto Sakura actually. It’s kind of creepy now that I think of it. You both have the same eyes, the same name, and the same responsibility now too. In fact, she scattered the cards too!” He laughed looking far happier than she had seen him.

Then, she noticed what he said and puffed up like an irritated cat. “I already told you, I’m not going to be the Cardcaptor. Screw responsibility. You’re the Guardian of the sealing cards of whatever they are, so the responsibility is yours!”

Keroberus smiled and held up the necklace. Sakura decided she did not like that smile. It was too cheerful so it had to be fake. Or he was planning to do something mysterious. She’s seen that very same smile on her blond classmate’s face many times before. Usually right before he pulled a prank that made even the _Hokage_ shudder.

Not a second later she found out she was right. That smile _had_ meant trouble for her.

A magic circle filled with what she assumed were the magical sort of seals appeared under their feet and everything except the two of them and the necklace went dark and foggy. Her heart filled with dread and Inner swore to her that something odd was going on with her chakra.

“ _Key of the seal…_ ” a soft glow that almost looked like chakra surrounded the necklace and made it float towards her. “ _There is someone whishing for a contract with you. A girl. Her name is Haruno Sakura. Oh key, bestow your power onto her. Release_!” He commanded.

The necklace glowed and grew right before her bewildered eyes. It changed into a shakujō made out of lightly coloured wood. In the metal circle at the top was a small green five-pointed star made out of a jewel she didn’t know the name of. There were four rings on the shakujō and when she shook them a sound that reminded her of wind chimes was emitted. The staff was about half her size.

“Kid, grab the staff! And be quick about it!” Worried that something bad would happen if she didn’t, her hand shot out to snatch it out of the air. It glowed for a few moments as she felt _something_ pass through her body and envelop her in its hold. It was warm, accepting, and her eyes fell shut at the sensation. It was as if it were greeting a long-lost friend…

 “Voila, a Cardcaptor is born!” Keroberus cheered.

Her smile fell. She tried to say something but her words sounded like the dying screech of a chicken.

**That—that…**

Keroberus grinned at her, not in the least bit regretful. “Congratulations, kid!”

Sakura raised the shakujō above her head and brought it down on him with a shriek of rage. He, being the sensible Guardian Beast he was, floated out of the reach of her angry swing. For a moment he thought that tricking her into being the Cardcaptor was not the wisest decidion he ever made, but then he shrugged and decided that the girl would get over it. She had to, or it the world would be in trouble.

“You—you utter bastard! You tricked me!” Her hands turned white from the death grip she had on her new—wand, was it? She was too angry to work out the specifics of that. There were more important things in the world right now, like dealing with that conniving plush toy.

“Yup,” he appeared to be at ease and that did not sit right with her.

“I’m still not going to be this Cardcaptor.” She told him with a stubborn set to her jaw. “I’m going to be a kunoichi of Konoha, got that?”

“Well, if you don’t become the Cardcaptor there won’t _be_ a Konoha.” He told her slyly.

Sakura’s heart skipped a beat. “W—what do you mean by that?” Her voice shook.

Keroberus sighed and floated back to sit on the bed. He patted the place next to him and, after a moment of contemplation, she sat down.

“The Sakura Cards, the ones you scattered… Originally, they were created in my world by a great sorcerer named Clow Reed and called the Clow cards. After his death they were sealed away along with me and the other Guardian, Yue. A few hundred years after that, they were unsealed by a girl, Kinomoto Sakura, from a different world who eventually became their Mistress and changed them into Sakura Cards.” He explained.

Sakura nodded along. So Keroberus _was_ from another world, along with the other Sakura… “Wait, the other Guardian – Yue, was it? Where’s he?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “He probably got sent into this world a lot sooner than I did and got put into a false form. Which means he looks like a human right now, and lets his human counterpart take the lead. You might know them actually. It’s all a bit confusing, so I’ll explain later. Our main priority right now are the Sakura Cards.” He turned serious. “When the seal on them is broken and they have no master to keep them in line, a catastrophe will befall this world…”

“A catastrophe?” Sakura paled. That didn’t sound the good, even if his serious face was a _teeny tiny_ bit hilarious.

“Each card is alive and possesses incredible power. The cards have their own personalities. Some are peaceful and usually give themselves up easily when you approach them but others like WATERY are pretty aggressive. And I’m assuming after being sealed up for so long they’re either really cranky or really curious about this world so went to explore.”

“Wait, you mean they’re not in the village anymore?” She bit her lip. Did that mean she’d have to track them down while on out-of-the-village missions? Not that she was going to go along with this farce, she was just… curious.

Keroberus nodded. “Some might, others might not be. Either way, you need to track them down before they cause havoc and accidentally kill people. Shinobi might be able to hold them off but since no one is familiar with magic I doubt they’d be able to seal them away or defeat them. That’s where you come it,” He looked her in the eyes she winced. “The only way you could’ve unsealed them was if you were the successor the former Mistress chose and if you had magic along with this chakra. So, you are going to help me capture the Cards before people start to panic.”

“How can I be the chosen successor? I’m pretty sure I’ve never met Kinomoto-san, especially since she came from another world. Where is she, anyway?”

Keroberus’s tail dropped. She felt bad about causing that sadness, but she really needed to know.

“We don’t know. A year before we were sealed away, Sakura disappeared on us and no one was able to find her; not Yue, not me, not even the Cards. She just vanished into thin air. Then I went to sleep one day and I woke up here.”

 **How sad,** murmured Inner. Sakura felt inclined to agree. It must’ve hurt to have your mistress and friend disappear on you and you didn’t know if she was dead or not.

“Oh…” She hurried to change the subject. “So how many cards are there? It looked like a lot.”

The Guardian shook his head and sent her a smile. “Well, there’s the original Clow Cards and then the ones Sakura created… So maybe around fifty-five cards in total. It could be more since my memory is a bit hazy.”

Her jaw dropped. “F—fifty-five?!” She squeaked not at all comforted at the amount. It’d take months for her to collect all of them, if not years. Particularly if there are more. Would she even have the time, with being a kunoichi and taking missions?

“Yeah,” the Guardian nodded. “It’ll take us a while to collect them. The weaker cards gather power quickly so I’m sure we’ll encounter one soon enough. The stronger cards need a little bit more power to activate so I’m sure it’ll be at least a year until they do something. Especially since this is a whole new world.” He looked at her and gave her a smile. “So, you got time to train and capture the weaker cards before you go up against the big guns.”

Sakura stared. Then, after a remorseful sigh, “Fine. I’ll help you collect the cards. But you’ll help me train as a kunoichi too.”

She barely got through the sentence before the plush toy was launching himself into her with a loud cheer. Sakura fell back onto her bed as Keroberus babbled on about friendship, sweets, something called video games, and promises of training. She already regretted everything. She should’ve just hunted down Watanuki-san as soon as the book started to glow.

But, as she looked at the relieved and elated Guardian Beast, she couldn’t help the smile curling at the corner of her lips. For him to be so enthusiastic just because of her agreement… he must’ve been incredibly lonely in the book, she thought.

 **Who knows how long he was in there. Could’ve been centuries.** Inner agreed.

 _Maybe we’ll find out after reading the books_. She said, referring to the ones from the chest. Considering that the chest was almost definitely from Kinomoto Sakura, she had a feeling she’d find clues in there.

Inner made a vague sound of agreement before fleeing to the deepest parts of her mind, muttering something about headaches.

Sakura wished she could join, but conceded to the part of her that felt bad about leaving the plush toy alone. The plush toy who will be her teacher in both the magical and shinobi arts. Though she doubted he knew anything about the latter, but figured he’d be able to give her some Other World exercises.

Keroberus jerked out of her hold.

“Wha—”

“Aw man,” he muttered, staring at something behind her. Sakura’s heart decided to fall into her stomach. She turned her head around slowly, almost not breathing. She feared a shinobi had seen her hug the animate plush toy, but her fears for that were needless.

After all, it was much worse. Much, _much_ worse.

She gaped, staring out of her window dumbly. For a minute she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. She tried blinking away the image, tried rubbing her eyes, and even tried pinching herself in hopes of making the image disappear. After a though she held her hands up and formed a hand seal and muttered ‘kai’, hoping it was a genjutsu.

No such luck.

A pause.

She lurched forward and gripped the window sill, staring down at the streets of Konoha wide-eyed. This shouldn’t have been possible, under normal circumstances. But the circumstances weren’t normal, with sentient sealing cards running around, a talking plush toy, and wish Grating shops.

But still. She didn’t expect _flowers_.

“Huh, she’s in a bad mood,” Keroberus said from beside her but she paid him to mind.

Because it was raining flowers, and the streets of Konoha were filled with panicked and confused civilians and shinobi who were practically swimming in brightly coloured petunias.

“ _That isn’t normal,_ ” Sakura pointed out a tad bit hysterically. Flowers were damn near impossible to create without Mokuton and seeing as the last person who had it was long dead, the sight of the flowers was almost enough to have her faint. What _caused_ this?

“Gotta agree with you there, kid. FLOWER usually ain’t so aggressive.” Keroberus nodded along in agreement. He crossed his arms and looked thoughtful. “She’s probably upset at being sealed away for so long, but once we go explain the situation she should calm down. It’s surprising she gathered enough power so quickly. Must be a lot of natural chakra in this place.” He looked up and noticed Sakura staring at him with a blank expression. “What?”

“This… is the work of a Card?” Keroberus blinked and nodded slowly. “Yeah, THE FLOWER. She’s usually calmer than this though.”

Sakura stared at him, pale and wide-eyed. Her village was drowning and flowers and this was just a _nice_ Card? Flowers were more dangerous than some people might think, and she knew that some can cause death if someone was stupid or stubborn enough. And then there was this Card, who the Guardian claimed was peaceful, who was capable of killing people just by drowning them in flowers…

She shuddered to think what a _not-nice_ card was capable of.

“Kid, we gotta interfere before the flowers do actually drown someone. And before people start to—” an alarm started to blare, “think there’s an… attack…” Keroberus paused. “That’s not good is it.”

Sakura, face already draining of what colour she had left, mutely shook her head. Though ‘ _not good_ ’ might’ve been a bit of an understatement. That was the alarm that signalled for civilians to remain indoors, genin to evacuate the civilians that were stuck outside, the Uchiha Police to protect the civilians and keep them calm, chūnin to guard the important buildings like the Hokage tower, the Academy and the Hospital, and for the jōnin to gather and prepare a counter-attack. The last time she heard that alarm was when The Weasel Incident occurred.

The alarm meant that the jōnin would probably attack the Card if the saw her, it, them, whatever. And from what Keroberus told her, it wouldn’t do any good. They might agitate THE FLOWER and that would be even worse.

“Sakura, we need to go and capture her. I think she’s probably somewhere with a lot of flowers and trees, so can you think of any place that it could be?” He asked her hurriedly.

Sakura grabbed the wand she had dropped earlier, THE WINDY and a kunai pouch just in case, and was _this_ close to laughing. Lots of flowers and trees? Of course she could name a few places like that. A few hundred! Konoha wasn’t know as Konoha just for fun and games after all!

She sent him a withering look which he floated away from. “She liked peaceful places with a lot of sunshine and plants and trees and laughter! Don’t look at me like that!” He flailed.

She felt a bit bad so she tried to think of a few places that sounded like that as she zipped up her standard blue shinobi sandals. The Guardian cast a curious look at them but turned his focus back onto her when she spoke, “Konoha is literally called that because it is covered in plants, you know.” She told him. “But I guess the Yamanaka clan compound and the Senju Park sound like the places you described.”

She finished making herself look presentable and stood up. She opened the window and glanced out, curious of the situation. Many civilians were being pulled out from the now neck-high rivers of flower and much to her shock, the police members, the chūnin and the genin were literally _standing_ on the flowers.

Keroberus exclaimed a sound of shock and awe. “Holy shit, is that chakra?”

“What?” She blinked and squinted at her numerous senpai as they helped out. Her eyes scanned their bodies and narrowed in on the faint blue glows at their feet. She stared, eyes slowly widening in realisation. They were using chakra to stand on the flowers and not sink in!

“Wow,” she breathed. “That’s awesome. And yes, that blue glow is chakra. I think they’re manipulating their chakra to give them some sort of layer between their feet and the flowers. So they don’t fall in, I think.”

“Manipulating their chakra?” He looked contemplatively down at the shinobi who were oblivious of their observances. “You think that can help us get to whatever place FLOWER is at faster?”

Sakura shrugged and hopped onto the windowsill. “I can try roof jumping, though there’s a possibility I’ll break something.” She grabbed his tail and ignored his startled shriek. “Either way, we need to get going – so let’s go!”

Sakura breathed in deeply and focused. She concentrated on her measly chakra reserves – Sage, having so little was horrifying – and tried to force some down into her feet. Her first attempt failed, and so did the second; both which caused an unpleasant tingle to go through her toes.

She growled, narrowing her eyes. She ignored Keroberus urging her to _hurry up because the flowers are rising_ and tried again. She imagined her chakra; small, warm and blue, and gently urged it in the direction of her feet. There was another tingle, but much more pleasant this time.

She peaked down at her feet and sure enough, they were glowing a faint blue.

 _Shannaro, take that!_ She smiled victoriously.

“Good job kid!” She blushed at the praise. “Now let’s get going.”

Now serious, Sakura focussed on her chakra and launched herself onto the roof across. She heard some shouts coming from before but didn’t pay attention to them. Her grip on Keroberus tightened and he wriggled around, but there were no voiced complaints.

“So!” He shouted over the wind when they were a good deal away from her house. He seemed to be in awe of the village, especially the Hokage Mountain. Not that she could blame him. “Which one, the clan thing or the park?”

“I think the park is more likely!” She told him. They passed over the flower-covered streets and shocked looking chūnin and genin. Sakura suspected it wasn’t everyday they saw a pink-haired pre-genin roof hopping. Something warm unfurled in her chest at the thought. “If it was the compound, I’m pretty sure the Yamanaka would’ve noticed her by now!”

“Park it is!” Keroberus nodded, determined.

Sakura angled her body so she could launch herself to the roof on the left; it was in the direction of the Senju Park. She breathed in, held her breath, and jumped—

Only to let out a startled squeak when someone grabbed the collar of the shirt she had on. On instinct, she shoved a frozen Keroberus into her kunai pouch and hoped to the Sage he would come out in one piece. She didn’t want to learn what sentient plush toys bleed, thank you very much.

Her wide green eyes landed on a bemused charcoal eye. The first thing that came to mind was _‘weird’_ , the second that he was a jōnin according to his flak jacket. He was holding her at arm’s length, like she was a kitten that might lash out.

A bead of sweat slid down the side of her face as they stared at each other. His eyes flicked down to her shakujō.

“Uh,” she stammered.

He chucked and his eye crinkled into what she hoped was a smile. “Now, what’s a little Academy student doing hopping around the roofs with a stick? All civilians, _including_ Academy students, are supposed to stay indoors.”

She cringed. What should she say? That she was chasing a sentient seal because of magical interference, _so if you would excuse me and not lock me up in the psych ward or T &I bye_? She barely withheld the snort. That would go down quite well with him, she thinks.

Sakura was brought back into reality when the jōnin gave her a little shake.

“Oh, um, I, uh, someone, uh, yeah! I’m looking for someone! A… friend… thing… of mine. So if you could let me go—?” She giggled nervously.

The jōnin smiled at her again. “No.”

She wilted.

“You are going to go inside this restaurant you’re standing on—” _and so are you_ , she wanted to say but bit her tongue, “and wait in there until everything settles. I’m sure that by now whoever you’re looking for has been rescued and relocated to a safe location.”

 _Or has been attacked_ , she sweated, well aware of the extra squirming weight in her pouch.

“Fine,” she grumbled as she was placed down into the roof in a surprisingly gentle manner. The jōnin patted her on the head, “Good. Now go on, I’m not leaving until you’re inside.”

She sighed and climbed down and angled her body so she could toss herself through the only open window. She shot the smiling, grey-haired jōnin an agitated stare. Then, she was inside.

The few civilians that were inside gave startled gasps as she landed on the floor. She gave an awkward wave.

There was a click.

Sakura froze.

Sakura turned.

The window was shut, most probably locked, and the jōnin waved at her before popping away.

She had the sudden urge to punch something. Preferably something grey. And male.

“Um, sweetie, all you alright?” The concerned voice from a waitress made her jump and whirl around. “Your face is all red and you’re shaking.”

“Uh, I’m… _fine_.” She breathed in through her nose and tried to smile. But the concern on the woman’s face only deepened, so it must not have been a good attempt.

She scanned the room and there were only a handful of people here. The concerned waitress, a waiter who seemed more interested in the glass door from which only flowers could be seen, a couple with a small child huddled in the corner, and a woman with green hair and pale eyes and a man with bright red hair and a shakujō of his own leaning against the table. The last two people she observed were calmly drinking tea and conversing, as if Konoha wasn’t being drowned by a cranky flower seal.

She admired their composure and the air of tranquillity around them.

Another scan of the room revealed that there was no other window that she could exit from, seeing as if she opened them the room would be filled with flowers.

Sakura hurried over to a secluded corner, carefully placing a menu up to hide Keroberus, who shot out of her pouch as soon as he managed to open it. She hunched over him hoping no one saw him.

The good news was that there was no plush-blood.

Bad news? He didn’t look all too happy with her.

“Seriously?” He glared at her, voice almost a hiss.

“I panicked!” She confessed in a furious whisper. He huffed, then poked his head over the menu and scanned the room. Panicked, she tugged on his tail. He yelped, attracting the attention of the worried and serene-in-the-case-of-two patrons. She gave them an awkward smile, “Sorry, I just, uh, poked my… eye. Yeah, poked my eye. Go back to worrying.” They had no reason to not believe her so they shrugged and went back to whatever they were doing.

She turned her attention back to the pouting Guardian. “I could’ve gotten stabbed,” he grouched. “And then you would have to deal with a bleeding magical entity—”

“What do you bleed anyway? Plush?”

“I—” he faltered. Then he shook his head almost violently and placed a paw on her cheek, looking her in the eye. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’re stuck in her while Flower is out there—” he jerked his head toward the flower-covered glass door, “—and causing trouble.”

“I feel the same way, Keroberus. But I don’t know how to get out. Every exit I can see is covered in flowers and the window I entered from was locked by the jōnin.”

“You could break it,” he suggested but she was already shaking her head.

“I’ll get too much attention by doing that. Besides, I don’t have the money to pay for damages.”

Keroberus groaned, palming his face. He was clearly agitated, if his swishing tail was anything to go by. He seemed to be thinking about something, eyes trailing to a corner where Sakura could spot stairs and a sign that said ‘Employees Only’. There was no way the flowers had risen up to cover the second floor, right? But how to get up there without the people stopping her…

Keroberus seemed to have the same idea because he was staring rather intently at the staircase.

The answer came to them in the form of a green-haired Hyūga with a smile that could melt even the most stoic Uchiha.

“Excuse me, may I please have the directions to the bathroom?” her voice was as soft and sweet as the smile she shot the waiter. He flushed, ignoring the irritated redhead sitting across from the woman.

“Oh, um, of course miss!” He stammered and gestured towards a hallway near the staircase. He was promptly slapped upside the head by his fellow employee who looked agitated.

“I’m sorry miss, but the window to the bathroom were open when all that—” she pointed to the flowers, ”—started.” The waitress truly did sound apologetic.

“Oh,” the Hyūga girl said quietly, “is there no other bathroom here? I’m afraid I had a bit too much tea to drink so I really need to… ah, _relieve_ myself.” A delicate blush graced her cheeks as she looked at the waiters from beneath her eyelashes. They both flushed, but it was the waitress who answered seeing as the waiter was too busy trying to form a coherent thought.

“Oh, well, I could show you the employee bathrooms. I’m sure the boss wouldn’t mind, considering the situation.” She smiled shyly at the Hyūga whose face lit up hearing the news.

“Really? Thank you, miss!” She grabbed a hold of the waitress’s hands and smiled up at her. Said waitress looked starstruck. Sakura couldn’t blame her; the Hyūga _were_ the second prettiest clan right after the Uchiha after all.

The redhead with the Hyūga snickered loudly and totally ignored the utterly sweet smile his companion threw at him.

The Hyūga turned back to the waitress who led her over to the staircase with a blush.

Keroberus pinched Sakura’s cheek, making her jump and send him an unamused glower. He didn’t seem to care as he just flailed his hands wildly in the direction of the two women. He stared at her impatiently.

It took her a moment to realise the implication.

When she did, Sakura hurriedly shoved Keroberus into her pocket – since he didn’t like her pouch all too much – not minding his protests. She hurried after the two, “Wait, I need to go too!”

The waitress didn’t look all that happy but the Hyūga gave her a small smile and beckoned her over. She did so with a blush, wondering why everyone in Konoha had to be so pretty.

“Hello,” she greeted the two of them politely as they ascended.

“Hello, Sakura-chan,” the Hyūga returned her greeting. She was rather pretty; with atypical green hair – she’d only seen browns and blacks and blues in that clan until now – and the pale eyes that marked her as a Hyūga. She was wearing a beautifully sown purple kimono with dark pink sakura petals sown onto the bottom and a Konoha headband wrapped around her forehead.

Sakura startled. She hadn’t noticed that the pretty lady was a kunoichi until now.

Then, she noticed she hadn’t told her her name either. So, she asked how the woman knew it.

“It’s rather obvious,” well, Sakura supposed it was with her hair.

“Oh.”

“Um, we’re here!” The waitress cut in, pointing to a door. “Only one at a time, though. Sorry.”

“You can go first, Sakura-chan. After all, you probably need it more than me.” Something in her eyes twinkled. Sakura nodded shyly and entered, quietly closing it behind her. And lo and behold, there was a window that wasn’t covered in flowers.

“Keroberus, we can get out!” She whispered to the Guardian. He poked his head out and nodded.

“I see. We need to hurry up, so go!” He whispered back enthusiastically.

She nodded and opened the window. The flowers were almost as high at the window, which was definitely a cause for concern. She climbed out, making sure she had a good grip on her shakujō, and jumped at a roof. Sakura looked around for a moment and launched herself into the direction of the Senju Park.

She arrived in minutes. This time, there were no pushy jōnin to stop her or any other shinobi. They were probably busy with calming down the civilians.

The park almost overflowing with petunias, except in one place.

“We’re here,” Keroberus immediately shot out of her pocket, gasping for air. He looked around wildly and pointed towards the direction of the Great Tree which was surrounded by a pond. “That’s her! That’s THE FLOWER!”

THE FLOWER wasn’t what Sakura expected. Now, she _did_ expect her – just… she didn’t expect her to look so odd. But then again, with magic everything was odd.

THE FLOWER was sitting on one of the many branches of the Great Tree. Her skin was pale, almost pink, and she wore a large, fluffy pink dress. There was a floral symbol on her forehead and chest; the latter having a star in the middle of it. Flowers hung from her ears, and her blonde hair was done up in corkscrews. Her green eyes, while under normal circumstances would be kind and cheerful, were swirling with confusion, anger, and resentment.

The card’s eyes drifted from the excited and oblivious Keroberus to Sakura. Instantly, her eyes softened for a fraction of a moment before widening. Then, she glared and to Sakura, it looked like she was seconds away from feeding her a poisonous flower.

“FLOWER!” Keroberus was still oblivious to her anger, “Wow, it sure has been a while. Hasn’t it? You can stop the flower rain now, everything’s alright now.”

In Keroberus’s defence, he didn’t expect her to throw a stick at him. It was only Sakura’s quick thinking that saved him from being nailed in the head.

Gaping, he asked her in a befuddled tone. “FLOWER? What are you…” He trailed off.

The flower spirit was shaking her head violently. She pointed at Sakura and made an ‘x’ with two of her fingers.

Keroberus spluttered, “Well of curse she’s not Sakura! She’s her successor!”

That reveal didn’t make THE FLOWER look any happier. If anything, she looked sullener and once again shook her head, this time while pointing to the shakujō.

“You don’t want to be sealed?” This time, he gaped. “But—But you’re always the nicest when it comes to getting sealed!”

THE FLOWER once again shook her head, crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Soon after, she gained a mischievous gleam in her eyes. There was a small flash of pink light, causing the pair of Cardcaptor-and-Guardian to close their eyes.

When they opened them, THE FLOWER was floating away and in her place was a single yellow carnation.

Keroberus and Sakura stared.

Finally, Sakura spoke, “Peaceful card, you said.”

“Shut up,” he pouted and looked into the direction the Card was going. “I hope you like tag, because it seems like it’s time to play.”

She hoped it would be easy.

* * *

 

It was not easy.

THE FLOWER, as it turns out, was an expert at the game. She was always a step ahead of Sakura, twirling and twisting out of the way of her wand and giving her that smug little smile, as if mocking her. Not to mention THE FLOWER appeared to be in a bad mood, seeing as the flower rain had grown stronger in the short amount of time she had spent chasing the Card. If Sakura didn’t hurry up, Konoha would be buried in flowers all the way up to the outer gates.

Coupled with her violent avoidance of the shinobi jumping around – she had thrown herself into the sea of petunias once, when she spotted that head of silver hair – her now almost-empty reserves of chakra and the sheer size of Konoha…

It was more than _not easy_.

“Ugh! Why. Can’t. She. Just. _Stop_ _already_?! We’ve been at this for almost half an hour by now. And she doesn’t even look the least bit winded!” She whined pitifully to her companion who looked like he wanted to cry.

“Well, she is using magic to run around unlike you.” He told her in the same pitiful tone of voice. “And I seriously doubt we can catch her without magic.”

 _If only I knew some_ , Sakura despaired.

Currently, they were chasing THE FLOWER through the forests near the Konoha walls. She thought they might’ve been near a training ground, but with flowers covering everything she wasn’t all that certain.

 **You’re an idiot** , Inner grouched.

Sakura nearly missed a tree branch at the suddenness of it. _Inner!_

“Sakura, _watch the trees, watch the trees_!” Keroberus shrieked from her shoulder. Everything must’ve been a blur to him with the speed they were going. It certainly was to her.

 **A real idiot**. Inner sighed. **Though I’m impressed you figured out the roof hopping exercise. Some genin aren’t even aware of it.**

 _Thanks_. Then the first part of what she said registered. _Hey! What do you mean by that?_

Inner sighed **. You said you don’t know magic.**

_Because I don’t._

**Then why did WINDY react when you called its name?**

_…_

**Sage, Sakura. Use your head. And the card. Before we die of exhaustion, preferably.** Inner sighed and fell silent.

Sakura stopped so abruptly she almost dislodged Keroberus from her shoulder. She panted slightly as she stared at THE FLOWER’S back. The Card in question had stopped, peaking at her curiously. The weight of the shakujō in her hands and THE WINDY in her pocket was a slap in the face.

“I am an idiot.” She mournfully told the Guardian.

“Uh,” he stared.

“How do I use THE WINDY?”

Keroberus stared. And stared. And stared a little more. Then he whined. It was a most pitiful sound. “Oh Clow, we really _are_ idiots.” He moaned, but told her what to do nonetheless.

THE FLOWER, when she saw Sakura raise the shakujō and the only card in her possession, panicked and tried to flee.

“Wind, become a binding chain… WINDY!” She threw the Card up and tapped it with her shakujō. Much to her delight, visible wind burst forward along with a woman. The wind shot forward and encircled the struggling Sakura Card in unbreakable chains. WINDY brought THE FLOWER over to where Sakura and Keroberus stood.

“Alright, kid. Remember what I said while we were chasing her? Do that, and she should be sealed easy-peasy.” Keroberus looked at her expectantly.

Sakura sighed but nodded, holding up her shakujō. She hesitated.

THE FLOWER looked seconds away from bursting into loud, angry sobs, and it honestly hurt her heart to see something that represented flowers look so _sad_ and _angry_.

“Um, hey, FLOWER?” She looked at her, “Can I ask… why do you not want to be sealed? Was it something I did? If so, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to keep harming my village.”

Looking surprised, THE FLOWER made some wild gestures with her hands that Sakura didn’t understand. Keroberus, however, did and made a sad noise.

“She’s upset and angry.” He said softly. “At Sakura mainly, for disappearing and sealing them up so suddenly. You look and feel a lot like her, so she panicked a bit. And she’s afraid that if you seal her now, she won’t see this new world again.”

Okay, so maybe her heart twinge a little at hearing that. Sakura looked at the Card and lowered her shakujō slightly. She worried her lip, trying to think of something. Finally, an idea popped into her head.

“My name is Haruno Sakura, and I’m going to be a kunoichi one day.” Sakura drew herself to her full height. She knew she didn’t look impressive, with her hair and height and childish body, but no one could stop her from trying. “I’m not strong, or fast, I don’t even have a lot of stamina yet. But I’m going to become stronger and faster, so I can proudly wear the Konoha symbol. I was thinking of going into medicine and poisons and stealth a few years ago, because let’s face it, even if I do get stronger other people will still beat me when it comes to pure strength. I’ll need to rely on other things, like speed and poison to deal with my opponents quicker before they overpower me. And someone like you, who can make any flower grow and appear on a whim, will be a huge asset. You could help protect my village, and help protect me.” She paused.

“I won’t keep you sealed away at the bottom of my pouch. I’ll use you, and I’ll help you learn about this world. I’ll even show you around the forests here in Konoha; some of them are breathtakingly beautiful. So, can I seal you with your consent? Because sealing you without your consent seems a lot rude and uncomfortable.”

She looked at Keroberus, WINDY, and TH—no, just FLOWER with a hopeful expression.

Keroberus seemed shocked, like he didn’t expect to hear that from her. Which was honestly a bit disappointing. She asked for permission like a polite lady, especially if it concerned other people.

His expression softened and he smiled at her, something in his eyes that she didn’t recognise, but she thought it might be approval.

WINDY looked content and happy and proud. The spirit sent Sakura an approving nod, and the kunoichi-in-training knew that WINDY would help her.

Finally, she turned to FLOWER. She was staring at her with wide eyes, but now that anger and resentment was gone. Her eyes softened and she gave Sakura a shaky smile. The flower spirit took in a deep breath and gathered some magic into her hands. Seeing as WINDY didn’t do anything, Sakura doubted it would do her any harm.

The glow faded and revealed a hydrangea. FLOWER smiled and handed it over to her. Sakura felt she was missing something, but she smiled at the spirit anyway and tucked the flower into the collar of her shirt.

Sakura raised the shakujō and started to chant. “Return to the form you originally came from… SAKURA CARD!”

A light show later, and she was holding both the WINDY and FLOWER cards. Sakura smiled as the flowers, all but the one gifted to her, vanished as if they had never even existed. Her shakujō shrunk until it was a small key with just the circle, hoops, and the star.

Then she promptly kneeled over, Keroberus following.

* * *

 

And that’s how Sakura went from normal girl to magical Cardcaptor in the span of an hour.

She, much to her surprise, doesn’t regret it.

She rolled over and held up the cards thoughtfully. The two spirits both looked peaceful on them, at that she was glad.

“You know, you handled yourself excellently back there.” Keroberus commented, patting her cheek. “I’m glad you befriended FLOWER. She really needs that right now. We all do, I guess.” He sighed softly.

“Even you?”

A pause. He slumped. “Yeah, definitely.”

Sakura gave him a half-smile. “So, friends?” She held out a finger for him to shake. He looked at it and smiled.

“Friends!” He grinned. “And teacher and student, too.”

She shot up at that, not caring for the ache in her muscles. Wide eyes stared at him. “R—really? You’ll help me train to be a kunoichi?”

“I don’t like killing, but this world is different than my own. Shinobi aren’t just assassins here, they’re protectors too.” He smiled at her. “You’re well on your way to become one.”

She didn’t no what to say. She gathered him into her arms and held on tight. “Thank you so much—” nickname, nickname, _aha_! “—Kero-chan!”

He tensed for a moment but relaxed into her hug. “No problem, Sakura.”

Then there was silence.

“Okay, but I’m not gonna go easy on you. And you better buy me cake and some video games.”

“What are video games?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I’m bad at writing descriptions. And explaining. But I’m happy at least some people like this!  
> And the part where Kero chanted the spell to release the staff was taken from the anime, so not mine.  
> Twenty pages… holy—
> 
> And as a side note, the Hyūga and the redhead were not OCs, thank you very much. The Hyūga appeared in the anime and was given a name, and as for the redhead… well, spoilers. Let’s just say he exists in the Naruto ‘verse.
> 
> Flowers are really dangerous. There’s this one plant, castor oil plant, which is listed at the most poisonous plant and can kill an adult from just a single milligram of it. This plant is really useful for a shinobi, especially a poison specialist, and I sorta hate that The Flower card is basically just for prettiness. The Flower can make any flower grow and appear, so endless poison supply. Very useful for budding kunoichi. And poison specialists.
> 
> PETUNIA - Resentment, Anger, Your Presence Sooths Me  
> YELLOW CARNATION - Disdain, Disappointment, Rejection  
> HYDRANGEA - Thank You for Understanding


	3. Arc I, Cardcaptor Sakura II; III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Incorrect conclusions, sulky stuffed lions, mysterious chats—oh my! Sakura finally starts her training as someone quietly discuses her situation…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a bit longer than expected. But now that my exams are over and done with I should be able to write more frequently, even if they would be short chapters. I hope you enjoy reading this!
> 
> P.S.: Previous chapters have been edited.

Two hours after the _incident_ concluded, the Konoha Council Chamber was brimming with agitated shinobi.

Many clan heads and commanders of specific divisions shifted in their seats as the Hokage finally showed up. He scanned the room with eyes that held none of his customary kindness. It proved just how severe the situation truly was.

Uchiha Izumi held back the shiver that threatened to crawl up her spine. The last time she saw those eyes was when Itachi – sweet, _kind_ Itachi – snapped and killed Councilman Shimura and a third of the Uchiha clan.

Her heart ached at the reminder of her ex-boyfriend. Even now she still couldn’t quite accept what the disgraced heir had done. But the memories of her clansmen’s cries and screams reminded her of that night, that _awful_ night.

That night she had been having dinner with her father. It was calm and peaceful, and one of the few times she got to spend with her cold, aloof father. He had never been the same since her mother passed, but for her he tried. He wasn’t perfect; he was in reality a bit of an asshole if she were being honest. But he was still her father, and he loved her, and everyone knew just how _fiercely_ the Uchiha loved.

Then the screams had pierced the air, and her father told her to hide as he went out to investigate. He didn’t return. He had been one of the first cut down by Itachi. Her ancestor hadn’t even gotten a chance to defend himself before the traitor cut him down with a calculated swing.

It wasn’t until the morning that the screams died down, and the hiding Uchiha finally dared to venture outside. Izumi remembers perfectly how many bodies there were. She recalls the streets covered in blood. She remembers the heart-breaking cries of her family when they found their mothers, fathers, spouses, daughters and son. She remembers her own cries when she found her father, killed with a precise slit to the throat. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to forget the aftermath of what the village has dubbed The Weasel Incident.

She doesn’t think she’ll ever be capable of forgiving Itachi either.

After the massacre, Izumi quickly rose in rank, training with a single-mindedness that was equal only to Itachi’s younger brother. She became a chūnin, then a jōnin, and then finally joined the Konoha Military Police Force. It took her a few years, but she was no longer a weak little girl who hid when a conflict arose. She was a qualified kunoichi, and the _leader_ of the Police Force. She was strong and dangerous, and ready to drag Uchiha Itachi back to Konoha by _his fucking teeth_ if she ever saw that bastard again.

A tap on her thigh drew her attention. Her eyes darted to Mikoto, who was peering at her with concern. Mikoto became the Uchiha Clan Head shortly after her husband had been found dead in his office. Fugaku had been killed by Itachi, the first amongst the Uchiha, and like most others he hadn’t even been given a chance to defend himself. Itachi had killed his own father with brutal efficiency, as if the man wasn’t the same person who raised and trained him.

It chilled her down to the bone. On her worst days, Izumi wondered if he would’ve cut her down just as coolly if she had been outside at the time of the massacre. She was certain he would. If he managed to kill his own father without shedding a tear, then he would’ve had no qualms about killing his then-girlfriend.

“Are you all right, Izumi-chan?” The Uchiha matriarch questioned her in a low voice. Izumi gave the woman a tight-lipped smile and turned to the Hokage. Izumi has grown close to the main family – well, what remains of it anyway – enough that Mikoto saw her as one of her own children. Even Sasuke grudgingly liked her, which was an ironic turn of events since he always cried as a child if in her presence.

The Hokage sat down in his seat and stared at the Nara clan head pointedly. The lazy man sighed, and Izumi would bet her dango sticks that if the situation wasn’t so dire the jōnin would grumble out a ‘troublesome’ in response to the Hokage’s wishes.

Nara-sama stood up and spoke: “As we know, at approximately 1500 hours Konohagakure was engulfed in flowers. Despite what everyone initially believed, the flowers were not genjutsu or anything of that sort. They were actual flowers. Approximately an hour after it started, the flowers disappeared altogether. There wasn’t a single flower left we could either observe or use to track down the person responsible. They simply disappeared, as if they were an illusion. But since both Sharingan and Byakugan confirmed that they were real, it’s safe to assume that it was no illusion.”

“But then what was it?” A bemused frown graced the elderly Hokage’s face.

Nara-sama shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

“Hokage-sama, if I may,” Yamanaka-sama interjected calmly. “While this may seem like trivial information, it might be important. I observed that the flowers were petunia. These symbolize resentment and anger. It is possible that the individual was targeting a specific person or clan, or the village itself. We do have a lot of enemies, after all.”

“Are you saying it was an attack?” Hokage-sama asked sharply.

Izumi tried not to shiver. If it was true, then it spelled trouble for Konohagakure. It meant that someone had gotten into the village undetected, which would mean that security was fucked, or that someone _in_ the village hated it enough to try to drown everyone with flowers.

“It could also have been a prank.” The Yamanaka shifted in his teeth, doing his best to not stare at the resident prankster’s mother, and doing his best to not seem like he was doing so.

“A _prank_?” The Hospital Director, a normally soft-spoken medic from the Kamizuki family, cut in. The woman looked less than pleased at the possibility, angry even. “It’s true that they killed no one, but my hospital is currently filled with patients that either got suffocated by the flowers or injured themselves while trying to escape them. I swear to you, if _it_ is a prank, I will personally end those responsible. No matter _who_ they are.” She directed the last bit at Uzumaki Kushina, who turned red at the accusation.

“My son knows better than to pull a prank of this calibre, Kamizuki-san.” Kushina-san told the medic, a dangerous smile on her face.

“Oh really? I think the ANBU who were targeted last year would beg to differ.” She shot back at the clan head.

The prank she was referring to involved a few ANBU and paint mixed with a harmless powder that caused itchiness whenever it made contact with water. Izumi doesn’t know where the boy got the powder, but after debating on it she decided she didn’t want to know.

The ANBU Commander, standing behind the Hokage, cringed at the reminder. He had been one of the members hit by the paint, surprisingly. Izumi doesn’t know why the elite shinobi indulge Naruto and his pranks, but they do. A lot. It usually ends badly for them, but Izumi reserves no pity for them.

Kushina-san glared at the other woman, cheeks red. Seeing that the two of them could start a fight any minute, Izumi cut in before Kushina-san decided pleasantries were for civilians and lunge at the older woman.

“Both Naruto and Sasuke were with me when the, uh, incident took place. If it was a prank, I don’t believe Naruto could have done it.” Izumi tried not to quake as suddenly all eyes were on her. She was still getting used to all these council meetings, and if she were honest, most of the Council scared the shit out of her.

“See! Don’t go pointing fingers at my son just ‘cause he’s the container, dattebane!” Kushina-san looked at the hospital director, smugness emanating from her in waves.

Kamizuki-san huffed and gave the former Jinchūriki the stink eye. Kushina-san ignored her.

“I doubt it was a prank. Why? Because what happened was no laughing matter. I also doubt it was an attack. Why? Because the incident was reminiscent to what I imagine a kekkei genkai user losing control.” Aburame-sama voiced his thoughts on the matter.

“I suppose that could be the case… But then why has no one admitted to it?” Hokage-sama frowned, deep in his own thoughts.

“They could be embarrassed.” Inuzuka-sama offered half-heartedly.

“You could be right, Tsume-chan, but… There was something strange about the chakra I sensed.” Kushina-san tapped her chin. “Before everyone panicked, I managed to discern that the epicentre of the incident was Senju Park. The perpetrator’s chakra was warped, and it felt more natural than any other chakra I’ve sensed before. There was a weird flavour to it, not one I’ve sensed before. It didn’t even feel _human_.” She admitted. “Then seconds before the flowers disappeared there was another burst of chakra – someone else’s – and they were applying a seal of some kind. Their chakra was warped too, but more human than the perpetrator’s.”

“Can you track one of those signatures down?” Hyūga-sama leaned forward, interested in the other’s answer.

“Sorry. The burst was too brief to  _really_  get a feel on it, dattebane.” Kushina-san shrugged.

“So, we have gotten no closer to finding the perpetrator and now we have to worry about one more individual.” Hokage-sama looked all too tired to be dealing with this. Izumi couldn’t blame him, if she was as old as him and had to deal with being the Hokage to boot she would be too tired to deal with anyone’s shit too.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Kakashi-senpai piped in sounding much too amused at the situation than he should be. “I mean, I can already guess what the kekkei genkai is. Can’t you?”

No, not they could not. Izumi was overcome with a strong urge to hit her superior. The only thing that held her back was that it would be unprofessional of her, and she couldn’t afford to be unprofessional now of all times.

While her restraint was something to be admired, it wasn’t anything special compared to how much Izumi’s fellow division leaders and clan hands were holding themselves back. They looked this close to giving into their need to hit the (rather reluctant, now that she thought about it) Hatake clan head.

“Care to share with rest of the class, Hatake?” Ibiki sounded very unimpressed with the jōnin.

The silver-haired shinobi’s single eye crinkled, indicating he was giving them a smile. It was a shame Tenzō was on a top-secret mission to who-knows-where. He would’ve surely given into the urge and punched him.

If only, Izumi breathed a rueful sigh through her nose. 

“Obviously, we have an unknown Mokuton user running around Konoha.” He continued to smile as if he hadn’t just dropped such a bomb on them bomb.

Many of the clan heads opened their mouths to argue at the sheer _ridiculousness_ of his idea, but they all fell shut with an audible ‘click’.

Izumi stared at her senpai, horrified at his nonchalant attitude. She really wished Tenzō was here to control Kakashi-senpai’s habit of being a total asshole. But alas, he was not. Now they were stuck with a Kakashi-senpai who had no qualms about screwing with people.

And the worst part? What he said actually  _made sense_. In a terrifying way.

The flowers, the natural ‘feel’ of the chakra… it all made sense.

Izumi wished it didn’t. Really, _really_ wished it was a lie or just a stupid suggestion.

But it wasn’t. And now they knew that there was an unsupervised Mokuton user running amok, doing _who knows_ what, and they’re _just now realising it_. In addition, this person hid their abilities for who knows how _long_ and for who knows what _reason_.

“ _Shit_.”

Kakashi-senpai kept smiling.

Izumi couldn’t agree more with that assessment.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, their person of interest was busy consoling an animated magical Guardian.

“ _How could you not have video games?!”_ Kero-chan wailed, beating his tiny fists against Sakura’s chest. “What kind of monsters _are_ you people?!”

Sakura patted his back awkwardly, mindful of his wings. These… ‘video games’ must be pretty important to the alien if he was having such a breakdown over them. Were they a form of entertainment?

 **Digital entertainment? Sounds ridiculous. I get movies and shows, but games? Games are much more fun when you’re physically doing it.** Inner snorted.

Sakura gave a mental shrug, privately agreeing with her Inner’s judgement. Seriously, how entertaining could these video games actually be?

“Well, we have books.” Sakura tried to appease the Guardian.

“Books? What good are books if I can’t play video games?” It did not help.

“Hey, books are awesome!” She jumped to defend her favourite form of entertainment. “Besides, I doubt you’ve ever read books like these before. Since you’re an alien and all. There are a lot of great books here, even if they’re mostly about shinobi. Icha Icha, for example, is one of the best-selling books of the decade!” Or so she’s heard. She’s never actually found time to read it. “I’ll buy you some books and games if you _stop crying already_!”

Kero-chan sniffed. “R-Really?”

Glad that he finally stopped brawling, she huffed out a response: “ _Yes_.”

“Alright then!” He chirped, floating out of her arms. He didn’t even have the decency to look like he had just cried his tiny (most likely non-existent) heart out. “But these books better be as good as you say they are, or I’ll cry.”

She prayed to the Sage that they were, indeed, as good as the reviews said they were. If not, she might actually start crying herself.

“You said something about shinobi books?” The suddenness of the question takes her off guard.

“Uh, yeah. Since you’ll be training me, you’ll need to read them. History books too.” Her brows furrow as she goes deeper into her thoughts. “But I won’t be able to get a lot of books on shinobi arts since I’m technically a civilian. I have access to the books in the Academy, but they’re more theoretical than practical. Although,” red crawled up her neck and she did her best not to look the Guardian in the face. “Merchants sometimes come in bearing books about practical shinobi arts, and stupid and desperate people buy them.”

Kero-chan snickered. “Let me guess, you’re one of these people.”

“Guilty.” Sakura hung her head and riffled her hair, embarrassed. It was a habit she picked up from her brother when he was around. He used to do it whenever he was embarrassed or sheepish, and since Sakura was so used to seeing him do, so she had gained the same tick.

“We should get back to your house before your parents get worried.” Kero-chan floated over and sat on her shoulder.

Her eyes widened. “Crap, Mebuki-obasan is going to _kill_ me!”

“Probably,” Kero-chan snickered as she shot up and started to run back to the village. “Hey, wait! Don’t forget the wand, idiot!”

“I can’t take it home with me! Mebuki-obasan will ask _questions_.” She shuddered at the thought. Her aunt was an inquisitive person by nature, so if she came home carrying a shakujō half her size, her aunt wouldn’t stop until she knew every. _Single_. _Detail_. Sakura did not want her to know about the wish Watanuki-san granted. She was certain she’d get _another_ lecture about trusting weird men who smiled too much.

Kero-chan eyed her, unimpressed with something. “Just shrink it then.”

“What.”

“Ugh, kids these days.” He shook his head in mock disappointment. Sakura got the feeling he was laughing at her. “Just take the wand and think about it being hidden or something.”

“The last time I listened to you Konoha was attacked by an angry flower lady and I got tricked into being this Cardcaptor.” She pointed out.

His cheeks darkened.

_He can blush?_

**He has blood?** Inner sounded amazed.

“Well, er, I promise I won’t be tricking you anymore.” He shrugged.

“Alright then,” she said wholly unconvinced. But she took the shakujō into her hand and closed her eyes, focussing on it shrinking. She focussed on her aunt’s reaction if she brought it home, and hoped to the Sage it was sentient enough to understand it would not be a good thing. She had felt something from it before, back in the room. Hopefully, it wasn’t her mind playing tricks on her.

One minute she was holding a shakujō, the next she was holding a key. Her eyes snapped open and she stared at the small key in her hands. It was, obviously, much smaller but had otherwise remained the same.

**Huh. Weird.**

_Not weird_ , Sakura gleefully replied. _Magic_.

“Nice job!” He peered at the shrunken want before turning his attention back to her. “We should get going. It’s already getting late.” He waved a hand towards the darkening sky, and Sakura hurried to comply.

* * *

 

Fortunately, neither her aunt nor uncle were home when she got back. Kizashi-ojisan might’ve been in a council meeting, and Mebuki-obasan was likely still at the hospital. Sakura, for once, was glad.

She let Kero-chan have some cookies to eat, after which she collapsed on the bed. Kicking off her shoes but not bothering to do much else, she turned her head to observe the room.

The Guardian of the Cards munched on some cookies while reclining on her pillow. He seemed happy, at least.

Her room, on the other hand, was in a mess. There was a kunai or two indented into the wall (he aunt will kill her), and everything else was pretty much everywhere it wasn’t supposed to be. If she had any energy left, Sakura would’ve blamed WINDY or the Guardian himself. But she didn’t, so she just groaned and buried her face into the covers.

“Books are over there. Goodnight.” She waved to gesture to her room in general before shutting her eyes and completely ignoring the world.

“Huh? Oh, well, goodnight kid.”

* * *

 

The next morning involved a lot of yelling from her aunt’s part. Apparently, she had come back after the whole flower fiasco ended and when she couldn’t find Sakura; she panicked a little.

Now, at that time Sakura was half dead from her adventure, so she just mumbled something about restaurants and asshole shinobi before falling back into bed.

Mebuki-obasan was less than pleased, both at her swearing and calling an esteemed shinobi such a rude name. But at least she wasn’t upset over Sakura being outside anymore. Sakura dreaded to think what Mebuki-obasan might do if confronted by the truth.

Her aunt had left her alone after that, much to Sakura’s delight.

“Wow, she’s way more terrifying than Tōya.” Kero-chan popped up from where he had hidden. He eyed the door almost as if he were expecting it to open again.

“Uh-huh,” she agreed. _Everyone_ was less terrifying than her aunt. Except maybe the Hokage, and an angry Uzumaki matriarch.

A few hours later she dragged her protesting body out of bed and into the shower. She changed into a simple red T-shirt with the Haruno symbol, black shorts and her usual shinobi shoes. After much debate she pulled her hair into a bun at the back of her head and then made her way to the kitchen.

‘Sorry, have work. Breakfast is in the fridge.’

The note could be from either of her guardians, or even both. Both of them were definitely swamped with paperwork from yesterday’s fiasco. At least they made breakfast.

“Kero-chan!” She called out into the house. “It’s alright – no one’s home so you can come down!”

As soon as she finished speaking the stuffed toy speared in the doorway. His cute little face looked happy; his mouth pulled into what Sakura assumed was a smile. “Awesome! You wouldn’t happen to have any more cookies, would you?”

Rolling her eyes at the question, she pointed to the cupboard before opening the fridge. She scanned the contents with a scrutinizing eye. She wrinkled her nose not a second later. From what she saw she could safely assume her aunt made eggs and bacon. Which pretty much sucked, since she wasn’t all that fond of bacon, or eggs, and especially the cold kind. They were bearable when warm, but _cold_ eggs and bacon?

_Yeaaah, no._

**Picky.** Inner murmured, voice still low and croaky from sleep. For a moment Sakura wondered how her Inner could sleep when she was just a by-product of young-Sakura’s Issues, but she was too tired to deal with that can of worms just yet.

So instead of the carefully prepared breakfast, Sakura grabbed the carton of milk and some store bought anmitsu. She placed the anmitsu onto the table where Kero-chan was already devouring his breakfast (if you could even call it that) before grabbing a cup and filling it with milk. She added a drop of honey to sweeten it up.

They ate breakfast in relative silence, the only noise being Kero-chan’s noisy crunching and moaning. He looked to be in bliss, so Sakura didn’t bother to disturb him and instead focussed on her own food.

After he was done, he burped and settled a victorious paw onto his bulging stomach. She eyes it speculatively. Sakura was pretty sure he didn’t have any organs – after all, she knows what he feels like and he’s as soft as any other stuffed toy – so it had to be done with magic.

“ _Aaah_ , that hit the spot. You guys might not have video games, but you do know how to make a mean chocolate chip cookie. I can respect that.” He nodded solemnly. Sakura bit her lip to stop herself from letting the smile that threatened to split her face in half do just that.

“Thanks.” she nodded at him. “Now I guess we can go to the market and buy some books for you. I have enough money saved up to buy you the books you want and the stuff I need.”

“Books. Yay.” He put absolutely no emotion into his words. Then he perked up as if remembering something. He pointed at you accusingly. “Wait a second – yesterday you said you didn’t have enough money to pay for a broken window, and now you have a lot? What gives, kid?”

“I lied,” Sakura said, totally unrepentant.

“ _Sakura~_!” Kero-chan whined, but she paid him no mind.

“Never mind that – let’s go!” She grabbed him by the tail, ignored his yelp, and left the house without looking back.

* * *

 

Shopping was rather uneventful in the young kunoichi-to-be’s eyes. She expected more… well, she expected something more than what she got. Nothing was different. Nothing had changed, even after the village had nearly been drowned in flowers. Sakura was a bit disappointed, actually. After everything that happened, she expected at least a little change, but no. Everything was entirely normal.

The perks of being a shinobi village, she supposed. Weird shit happened on a daily basis so she guessed that her fellow citizens were used to crazy stuff happening. Though she did feel bizarrely proud that yesterday’s incident was the first time it rained flowers.

She got a few dozen sappy romance novels at the bookstore and a new pouch at a weapon shop. The clerk at the bookshop had given her a weird look once he spotted the Icha Icha books she bought, but otherwise her shopping trip was uneventful.

At Kero-chan’s request she dropped everything off at home before leaving to go find an unoccupied training ground. She took a book on chakra with her so Kero-chan wouldn’t be bored while she trained.

It was around noon when Sakura finally found an empty training ground (the others had been occupied by some weird jōnin and even weirder genin) that fit her criteria. It was secluded enough that she didn’t need to worry about anyone spotting her friend and also big enough that she wouldn’t accidentally hurt him if she aimed a kunai wrong or something.

“Alright then!” The Guardian popped out of her newly acquired pouch and settled down on a nearby rock. She placed the book next to him, and after making sure it wouldn’t fall, stood to attention and peered at Kero-chan with large, inquiring eyes. Her avoided looking into them, his attention elsewhere.

Something hot immediately sparked at seeing where his eyes landed. “You have a problem, _plush toy_?” She hissed. “Is my forehead to big or something?!”

 **If he says anything, I’ll kill him! _SHANNARO_!** Inner cracked her knuckled in preparation of a fight. If he uttered a single _syllable_ against her (admittedly large) forehead she’d pound him to dust, screw her duty!

“Uh… No? It’s a perfect size, Sakura-chan! Really!” He chuckled nervously, wary of her clenched fists. Holding his paws up in surrender, the Guardian Beast scooted a few more inches away from her just to be safe.

The young Cardcaptor huffed, but settled down with nothing more than a warning glare.

“Ehem!” He coughed delicately, “Anyway… We should get started on your training. What can you already do?”

“Er, well,” Sakura fiddled with her T-shirt’s hem. “As you saw yesterday, I can use my chakra to roof hop. I guess I can also augment my muscles so I can be faster and stronger, though that takes very precise chakra control. I’d need to practice some more before I can do that and I also need to up my reserves. They’re really pitiful right now – it’s downright embarrassing.” She sulked, eyes darkening. How could she have let herself go this much? At her current skill level, she was barely above a normal civilian adult. It’s _horrible_.

“Up your reserves? How do you do that?” There was something _dark_ and _intelligent_ hidden behind those cute button eyes. A shiver made its way up Sakura’s spine despite her best efforts. She’s just now realising that Kero-chan might be a lot older than he acts – he might even be older than the Sage himself! And with all that wisdom and age… There must something dark burning in him, she realised. You don’t get that old without losing a lot.

“Chakra is essentially ‘physical’ and ‘mental’ energy moulded together. There are a bunch of exercises that can help you with chakra control – which I’m actually quite good at – and some of these exercises can also increase your reserves. Hm…” Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Physical energy is increased through training while mental energy is increased through meditation and experience. I guess if I practiced the same jutsu repeatedly I’d increase my chakra stores, but that would take much longer than I’d like it to. My best bet would be endurance training and meditation.

“And there’s also that chakra limit thing – like for example I’ll never be able to have as much chakra as an Uzumaki because it’s a clan trait. A chakra limit depends on your genetics, so I can only hope one of my ancestors was a clan member. And if not, well.” She shrugs her shoulders. “There are always weapons and taijutsu. And I have magic, don’t I?”

Kero-chan eyed her shrewdly. “Yeah, there’s a possibility that your magic reserves will either overwhelm or combine with your chakra. Magic is unpredictable even in normal circumstances. This is a whole new world altogether, so who knows what it might to.” He shrugged his little shoulders and waved a paw in the direction of the training grounds.

“Might as well start now. Run around the training ground until you can’t anymore and then meditate. Meanwhile, _I_ , your cool magical teacher,” Sakura barely covered up her snort. “will read this book and see if there’s any more we can do.”

The rosette huffed and cast an apprehensive eye onto the training grounds. They were by no means small, but Sakura was thankful none of the larger ones were free when she checked. This would already be hell for her aching body, never mind an even larger terrain. She might’ve actually collapsed while running if that were the case.

And yes, Sakura did realise how pathetic that was.

She was supposed to be a kunoichi-in-training! She wasn’t supposed to faint from running. If she did that on a mission, she’d be dead meat! Knowing her classmates as well as she did, none of those clan brats would bother to help her out. They’d leave her to die, or do her in themselves if she posed a threat to the mission and Konoha.

Honestly, this training would not only help her grow stronger but it’d also ensure her safety. Or as safe as she could get while being a shinobi.

Besides, she _really_ wanted to prove—

Her mind blanked. Sakura blinked her eyes, confused at the sudden _nothingness_ in her head. That was weird, to say the least. She had an eidetic memory, so she wasn’t all that used to not remembering details, even trivial ones. Her eyebrows furrowed once again, a perplexed expression on her face.

“Sakura-chan, you’re wasting daylight! Get to it kid!” Kero-chan barked out as if her were a dog instead of a sentient lion plushy.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Sakura did as she was told and started to run.

She’d later cuss him to high heavens during the following days. Her muscle soreness was worse than the first day’s – and that was saying something. She’d thought her impromptu game of tag was something special but while training under Kero-chan she’d learn just how much of a slave driver he really was.

But that was what is to come, and the present is much more important…

Neither Sakura nor Kero-chan noticed the steely gaze locked onto the rosette’s sprinting form.

* * *

 

“So, _that’s_ the girl everyone is so obsessed about? Doesn’t look like much, if I have to be honest with you.”

“Kaito… You do realise you can’t see, right?

“ _Rude_.”

“Sweetie, I’m just stating facts. There’s nothing rude about it. Now stop whining – it’s giving me a headache.”

“Humph!” A pause. “But no, really. That little girl is the next Cardcaptor? She’s not even a shinobi.”

“Hm, not yet anyway. Despite her current situation, Sakura-chan might surprise us both.”

“Doubt it. But speaking of the current situation, we need to deal with Yue—”

“Don’t worry about it. I have everything covered. Yue is _that person_  after all. We can expect them to approach Sakura-chan long before the First Judgement.”

“True, but I expect _that person_ to wait for a while. They’ve always been patient.”

“Indeed, my sweet Kaito. We need to make preparations in the meantime. It wouldn’t do if _that person_ discovered us just yet.”

“Couldn’t agree with you more on that. I can’t wait to see _that person’s_ expression when they realise who I am. It’ll be _hilarious_.”

“… your inner sadist is showing, Kaito.”

“It is? Aw shit.”


	4. Arc I, Cardcaptor Sakura II; IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura is approached by a familiar face and makes some friends. Kero-chan muses about the new Sakura and his situation. He isn’t very happy, but for now he’ll place his trust in his Sakura’s choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I wrote this I listened to Itachi's theme 'Senya'. It's probably my favourite.
> 
> But ANYWAY - two updates in one months? I might be pretty inspired... Anyway, I hope you like this. As a follow-up note, we probably won't get to the Academy until... what, two chapters? Probably.

“You suck.” Kero-chan informed her as soon as she collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Sakura blew the bangs out of her eyes and sent him a glare. She knew that but did he really have to be so blunt about it? She might night be a civilian but that didn’t mean she could go from zero to hero in a span of five days! She, unlike the magical alien floating above her, is very much human.

“But you’re getting better. I think.” He drifted out of her reach in case she tried to smack him again.

“You think?”

He shrugs. “I’ve been sealed away in a book for centuries, cut me some slack. I’m new to all this shinobi and chakra business and the books you gave me can only explain so much.”

The young girl eyed him with grudging respect. Despite the short time he’s spent in her world, the Guardian has pretty much inhaled any book he’d come across. He always claims it’s because he’s bored (he’s still sour about the whole video games situation), but Sakura can see that he genuinely enjoys reading and learning about shinobi and her world in general. He especially likes the Icha Icha series, but for some reason he never lets her read it. Says it’s not for girls like her to read.

That didn’t go over so well with the new Cardcaptor, but Kero-chan still remains unscathed and not budging.

“Well, sorry I’m not a kunoichi yet.” She rolled her eyes. “I promise I’ll get you more books on chakra and all that when I graduate. But for now, stick to the romance novels. Since you seem to like them so much.”

He coughed, a blush staining his cheeks. Looking at the sky instead of her, Kero-chan grabbed the current book he was reading and tossed it to her.

“Hey!” She yelped and caught it with a minimum amount of fumbling. Her arms ached from moving, but in all honesty, Sakura’s gotten somewhat used to it by now.

“C’mon, kid. I’m betting it’s about lunch right now so we should head into town to eat.” His face adopted a silly grin that spelled trouble for her purse.

For such a small being, he had quite a considerable appetite. It somewhat reminded Sakura of Naruto when it came to his so-called ‘sacred food’; ramen

“Oh, all right then, but no more than two cakes. I know I said I have money but not _that_ much.” With one last warning look she opened the new pouch she had bought pointedly.

For a second there he looked like he wanted to protest, but then he remembered where they were, and not exactly wanting to become government experiment, settled into the bag. Sakura smiled briefly before heading out towards the Hot Springs District.

While Amaguriama wasn’t exactly a shop that a person would go to for lunch, it still offered its customers delicious sweets that both Sakura and her hidden companion would enjoy. Yakiniku Q was her first pick, but she had a feeling that if she went there, she’d come across Ino. Her former friend frequented that place rather often, didn’t she? And Sakura didn’t… She just didn’t want to see the Yamanaka heiress anytime soon. Why would she? They weren’t friends, haven’t been for quite some time now. 

A small part of Sakura wonders why they even ended their friendship, but the larger part brushes it aside.

* * *

 

Sakura ended up buying three sticks of syrup-coated anko dumplings for herself and some matcha manjū for Kero-chan. She’s quickly come to realise that the Guardian Beast would eat anything as long as it was sweet and delectable. She crept over to a secluded corner of the shop and settled down, perfectly content with her choice for lunch. If her aunt had been there, she would’ve surely killed the rosette, but she wasn’t so _ha_! Sakura had eaten a bigger breakfast in preparation for training, so it wasn’t like her sweet lunch mattered.

Making sure no one was paying attention, the kunoichi-in-training propped up a menu so no one would see her very inhuman tagalong. Kero-chan looked delighted when he saw his lunch. After a quick (almost inaudible with the way he started to stuff his face) thank you from him, Sakura dug in herself.

Her eyes shut in bliss at the sweet, heavenly taste of honey-drizzled dango. It’s been a while since she last enjoyed the treat, though once again she wondered why she ever resisted. Sakura could deal with being fat as long as she could eat her favourite foods every day.

“Excuse me,” a soft voice snapped her out of her dango-induced euphoria.

Sakura’s first thought was that she was lovely. This was immediately followed by a mental heart attack, because _Kero-chan_.

With wide eyes she scanned her table, but there were no signs of the alien anywhere. Well, except for the plate of manjū which, bar the plate, seems to have disappeared.

 _Oi, oi_. Her eyebrows rose in incredulity. _Did he really manage to eat all of them?_

No answer.

Not that she expected anything. Inner’s been subdued ever since the training started, claiming a headache. Sakura doesn’t think that’s all there is to it, but there wasn’t much she could do. It’s not like she could go up to a Yamanaka and start complaining about the voice in her head disappearing. That’d be a fast track to the end of her career, and most likely freedom. She might be a civilian born, but she was a _smart_ civilian born.

A delicate cough drew her attention again.

“Sorry!” She squeaked, a blush rising to her cheeks. “I was, uh…”

“It’s alright.” The lady – a kunoichi from the looks of it – waved her apology off with a kindly smile. She was really pretty and really familiar. Sakura took in her appearance and realised why that was.

“Oh, you’re the lady from before!” She then covered her mouth, wide eyed. “S-Sorry. That was rude of me, nee-san.”

“No harm done, Sakura-chan.” The kunoichi giggled, waving a hand. “And feel free to call me ‘Natsu’. Hyūga Natsu, actually. But you knew that already, didn’t you?” At Sakura’s guilty nod, the older girl just shook her head. “No, it’s alright. My eyes make it obvious.”

“Um, excuse me Natsu-san, but how do you know my name? If I recall, you also knew it back at that restaurant…” Did Sakura’s Hyūga classmate – Himawari? Hanami? Er, no… – happen to mention her? She doubted it, but there was no alternative explanation for why the kunoichi knew her name.

“An educated guess.” Natsu-san smiled, gentle and wistful. Sakura’s grip on her precious dango sticks loosened, pink staining her cheeks. The older girl was beautiful, as expected of a Hyūga. But there was something softer about her, made much more apparent with the kimono she was wearing.

“Oh, wait!” The Hyūga suddenly turned around, hand snatching at the sleeves of some monk. Or at least what Sakura assumed was a monk; he had the shakujō and the robes to prove it, but he wasn’t the slightest bit bald. In fact, he had vivid red curls that made Sakura’s mind immediately jump to Naruto’s mother. White bandages covered his eyes. Odd.

“Wha—Hey!”

“Can my friend and I sit here, please?” Natsu-san smiled, a curious expression on her face.

“S-Sure!” Sakura squeaked, face as red at the blind monk’s hair.

“Thank you!” She cheered and dragged her companion into a chair across from the rosette. Sakura wearily folded the menu as Natsu-san did so.

“Oh, come on, Natsu! I’m blind, not an idiot. I know how to sit down.” The only male – well, if you didn’t count the sentient plush lion – complained. He pouted, and it struck Sakura at how young he looked. Something at the back of her mind nagged at her but she ignored it in favour of observing the duo.

“You do?” Natsu-san looked so genuinely astonished that it made a giggle slip from Sakura’s mouth.

“Fuck you.” The redhead huffed, turning towards Sakura. Huh, he must’ve heard her giggle then. “I’m Hiniku Kaito by the way. Just Kaito is fine. That annoying woman’s,” he jabbed a finger in Natsu-san’s direction. “Unfortunate companion. Pity me, child, for there is no hope left for my escape.”

Sakura snorted on her dango. There was a small sound, almost like a snicker, from her pouch. Probably Kero-chan.

“Rude,” Natsu-san huffed and swatted at the back of Kaito-san’s head.

“So is beating on a homeless and helpless blind guy.” He squawked, rubbing his head. The kunoichi sent him the most unimpressed stare Sakura had ever seen, but said nothing. It was almost as if she didn’t believe a word he said… But that was odd. Sakura had a feeling Kaito-san wasn’t as helpless as he appeared to be, but still. He was blind. In a world of shinobi and samurai, that was a pretty big handicap.

“Wait, homeless?” The older two peered at Sakura, startled at her sudden question.

“Er, yeah?” Kaito-san nodded slowly as if she were the stupid one between the two.

“If you don’t have a place to stay you can stay at mine. My guardians won’t mind.” _Mostly_. They’d be a bit upset but as soon as she explained the situation Kizashi-ojisan would help Kaito-san get a place. Her uncle had a soft spot for the disabled, especially if they were civilians. “My uncle might even help you find a place.”

“There’s no need for that, kid! _Really_.” He protested a little two quickly for Sakura’s taste. He scratched his cheek, looking sheepish. Get it, _looking_. So maybe Inner’s love for puns wasn’t just all her. “It’s not like I’m in any danger or anything. I can take care of myself and I like to travel anyway. I’m only in Konoha because of that flower incident a few days ago.”

Sakura froze momentarily. The flower incident? Oh, well it’s not a surprise that it would draw attention to Konohagakure. Though she is surprised that the news spread so quickly. She had believed that the Council would keep everything _hush hush_ for the time being. The whole incident basically put a target on Konoha’s back since others would think that the village’s security is lacking. Which is wrong. Konoha had _great_ security. It just didn’t cover magical creatures and aliens is all. Neither did any other village security.

 _Sage_ , she _really_ fucked up by scattering those cards, didn’t she?

“By the way Sakura-chan, I must simply compliment you on your speed. It’ll be useful on missions.” Natsu-san smiled, making Sakura forget where she was for a second longer. The Cardcaptor hated pretty people and their pretty smiles – they were just so distracting!

“Speed?” She blinked.

“The manjū. You ordered some, didn’t you?” At Sakura’s nod the older girl continued. “Well, you just sat down when Kaito and I came in and by the time we came over the manjū was gone! Speed eating is a useful skill for a kunoichi to have, you know. Less chance of letting your guard down or attracting an enemy with the smell.”

“Yeah, speed eating. _Real_ useful.” Sakura felt really uncomfortable at Natsu-san’s stare, so she averted her eyes to her dango. She didn’t like lying, but for the sake of her continued freedom it would be a necessary skill to master.

Kaito-san snickered a little as he munched on some roasted chestnuts. He hugged the bag of chestnuts as if they were some precious treasure instead of food. It made him look even more ridiculous than he already was. Seriously. Sakura knew the man was blind but red hair and _those_ robes? What was Natsu-san thinking letting him walk around like that?!

Sakura, because she was a polite young lady, did _not_ voice any of her less than polite thoughts about the monk’s choice of outfit. Instead, she turned to Natsu-san who was nursing a cup of tea, and out of the blue: “By the way… thank you, Natsu-san.”

“Hm? What for?” The kunoichi smiled. There was something oddly mischievous about it.

“That day at the restaurant. You probably weren’t even aware of it, but you helped me out quite a bit there. I was on my way to, uh, help a… friend,” at least Sakura _thought_ FLOWER was her friend. “But I got waylaid by some jōnin. It would’ve ended badly if I wasn’t there for that friend of mine, so thanks a bunch!” A grin crawled onto her lips as she inclined her head.

She didn’t notice the older kunoichi blinking in surprise, nor did she notice Kaito-san’s careful smile. By the time she looked at them, the man was back to eating his precious chestnuts and Natsu-san was smiling.

“Is that so? Well then, I was happy to help you since it earned me that adorable grin.” Kaito-san choked on his nuts while Sakura’s face turned red. Natsu-san continued smiling as if she hadn’t just dropped that into the conversation so suddenly. “Hm, how about this. If you ever need some more help with anything – and I mean anything – feel free to ask me. I’m usually here or at the other Amaguriama around this time of day.”

Sakura gaped at her rather unattractively. Who could blame her? This pretty kunoichi just came and offered to help her with _whatever_. It was so out of the blue! Shinobi did not just offer help to civilian born Academy students! The clan kids; _sure_. But the civilian born? It simply doesn’t happen. _Ever_. And yet Natsu-san did. And to Sakura, of all people. There were dozens of other Academy students with much more potential than her, and yet…

“Why?” She blurted out in her surprise. “Er, I mean…”

Natsu-san continued to smile at Sakura despite her rudeness. “Just an old promise I made.”

A promise? What did that mean?

Sakura opened her mouth to voice her befuddlement, but before she could Natsu-san stood up. Her cup was empty.

“Come on, Kaito. We have things to do.” She grabbed her friend’s arm and dragged him up. He almost dropped his bag of chestnuts, which made him utter a few choice words that had Sakura’s ears turning red. Sakura could’ve sworn she heard a ‘we do?’ uttered somewhere between other… less _innocent_ words. “Later, Sakura-chan. I hope you come to seek my advice one day.”

“Whoa! _Hey_! Natsu, let go of me you annoying pale-eyed wench! You almost made me drop my babies!”

With a final smile, Natsu-san left the shop while brushing off Kaito-san’s threats and insults like a pro. She must have experience with the way she was man-handling and subsequently ignoring the protesting monk.

Sakura stared at the door long after the two exited, utterly bewildered with this turn of events. She hadn’t expected to run into the kind kunoichi again, let alone gain her – what was it, friendship? Help? She had absolutely no clue what the older girl’s end goal was. She also had no idea what the Hyūga meant by ‘an old promise’. Why would a promise involve her, for Sage’s sake? She was just a civilian nobody! Er, a nobody with magic and a magical alien Guardian, but in _this_ world she was cannon fodder at best. So why…?

“Well, that was weird.” Kero-chan commented from her lap. He snuck out from his pouch soon after the duo had left, and since he was in no danger of being spotted, Sakura let him stay there. His face was covered in green crumbs. She could only hope the pouch wasn’t in the same state. “You have any idea what that was all about?”

“No, sorry. The first time I met her was during the FLOWER incident.” She shook her head, absentmindedly finishing her final stick of ‘lunch’.

“Weird.” Kero-chan shrugged. “Anyway, we should get back to training.” An unnerving glint entered his eyes. Sakura shivered. She’s learned to hate that glint. It usually meant running suicides until she dropped.

“Y-Yeah…”

With that the two magical being left the establishment with full stomachs and a lot on their minds. Though, Sakura couldn’t help but feel that she was missing something important.

* * *

 

“Heh, I gotta admit, that girl really is something.”

“I know. That’s why she’s Kinomoto’s Successor. She’s a lot like her, but also very different. Less innocent, for one thing.”

“Yeah,” a snicker. “Oh _Sage_ , her face when you flirted with her! I could barely contain myself. Almost ruptured a lung from how hard I was trying not to laugh.”

“Hmph! I was not flirting with her. First of all, she’s almost a decade younger than me. And I like _boys_. You should know that with how much we gush about Hatake’s behind and Shiranui’s abdomen.”

“Don’t be such a prude, Natsu. You can say _ass_ you know.”

“I’m cultured, unlike you.” A pause. “And don’t think I didn’t catch that slip up back there.”

“What slip up?”

“Don’t play dumb. That innocent expression didn’t work on me even when you had eyes. Back there you said you came here because of the flower incident, yet you were here long before that. Were you trying to clue her in, hm?”

“Erm, your expression there is pretty scary… What if I was? That kid deserves to know that there are people here looking out for her. Especially with how things are looking.”

“And here I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I don’t, at least not yet. Maybe in the future I will. But either way she’s still a _kid_. Like _that person_ used to be, a very long time ago. Bright, and innocent, and hopeful.”

A sigh. “So were we.”

“… Were we really?”

“…”

* * *

 

Kero didn’t know what to make of one Haruno Sakura.

For one, she was training to be a fucking _ninja_ for Clow’s sake. And from what he’s deduced, she’s been doing it since she was _six_. What kind of sane person let’s a kid do that? One that’s been fed military propaganda apparently.

And _yes_ , despite what the kid thinks, Kero has learned a _lot_ about the world he’s found himself in. And he doesn’t like it. Like, _at all_. Sure, the shinobi world has nothing on his world’s wars, but they can still cause _so much_ destruction and death ( _Clow_ , he hopes they never find out how to create nuclear weapons). A single man wipes out a whole city with just one ‘cool’ ‘ninjutsu’, and no one even blinks. The just think about learning that ninjutsu because it’d be useful and that’s that. Holy shit, the people in this world have some seriously screwed up morals – and priorities ( _holy Clow their priorities what the actual fuck_ ).

(Okay, so he might’ve snuck out at night to steal some books. But could you blame him? This is a whole new, rather murderous world with flipped morals and no qualms about massacring whole towns. He’d be an idiot not to learn what he can about this new world.)

(And in spite of what Yue tells you, Kero is not an idiot _dammit_!)

(But still, the more he reads about this place the more he swears Sakura is pulling some kind of sick joke.)

( _What the actual fuck Sakura. What the actual fuck?!_ )

In the span of five days he’s learned about more bloodshed than he ever did back in Japan. Sure, his world had nuclear weapons. But this world had _human_ weapons. And in some sick, twisted way, that was a hell of a lot more terrifying. His mind is still boggling over the fact that some people could kill _thousands_ and not give a flying fuck about it. Some even _praise_ it. What is _wrong_ with these people?

Take the Yellow Flash for example. He utterly _eradicated_ Iwa’s forces, and the people here in Konoha see him as a hero for it! He killed hundreds of people and—and— _fuck_.

What the fuck was Sakura ( _his_ Sakura, not this pink haired brat) thinking when she chose a girl _who wanted to become a murderer_ as her Successor?! Sure, the kid gave a good speech about protecting her village, but that was all propaganda. She probably didn’t even know it and believed all that.

But the kid wanted to become a killer for hire, and he couldn’t allow that. He’s killed people before, but only to protect his Masters and his family. The kid might think she’s protecting the village while killing those people, but would that even be the truth?

Though on the other hand… That girl _does_ have some morals at least. Even though she’s training to be a killer she’s bright and kind and _determined_. And has _remarkably_ short temper, and that’s saying something. It’s almost comical. That kid wants to protect, and Kero can respect that, baby murderer aside.

The way she dealt with FLOWER surprised and impressed him. It must’ve impressed her and WINDY too, from the way their magic reacted. For all her ambitions (he’s never going to let the baby murderer thing go, how could he?), she’s charismatic and… innocent, in a way. Not innocent like Sakura, never like her, but there was an innocence in her nevertheless. She actually believed the propaganda she spouted and almost made him believe it too. _Almost_.

He’s read the books; history, chakra, fiction. From them he’s managed to gleam that shinobi were tools for war. And not sex or romance, despite what that Jiraiya chap writes. (The plot is horrible yet the ‘other parts’ _so_ _good_.)

(Fuck, the Jinchūriki. Bijū. Just— _fuck_.)

What he’s also managed to gleam from those books is: chakra can heal, medics can’t fight, and medics can _save_ lives instead of taking them. And maybe, if he gave the girl the right books and made the right comments, she’d become someone capable of saving lives. Medics are supposed to have good chakra control, and the girl said she had it, didn’t she? So there you go, something for him to work with.

But until then…

“Oi, hey! Alien guy! You alright there?” He’s thrown out of his thoughts because of a loud voice screaming into his ear. Holy shit, she’s sure got some lungs on her.

“YE—OUCH!” He howls his pain for the world to hear, flying out of that _evil_ girl’s reach. He sends her a glare, though he knows that in his false form it’s pathetic. “Why’d you do that for?”

She huffed, her green (no fair, they’re _her_ eyes) eyes practically lit up with annoyance. “I’ve been calling your name for, like, five minutes. You didn’t react at all.” She suddenly frowned. “Are you alright?” Her voice is careful, and kind, and so alike to Sakura’s that it _hurts_.

“Er, yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.” He ignores the ache in his chest and pushes on, because Sakura would’ve wanted that. Besides, he’s gotten used to masking his true feeling by now. He’s a freaking _pro_.

“’Bout what?”

“Nothing important.” It’s not like he could tell her the truth. She’s too young to understand even half of his feeling at this point. Maybe when she’s older, then he’d tell her. Maybe. If she lived that long.

“Oh…” She didn’t look like she believed him, but let it slide. Instead she picked up his book (Icha Icha – once again, horrible plot but the porn isn’t so bad, actually a bit addicting) and returned it to his pouch. Yes, his. It’s his now. His and FLOWER’s and WINDY’s. “Well, we should get going Kero-chan. It’s getting late and Mebuki-obasan will kill me if I’m late for dinner tonight.”

 _Kero-chan_. His heart aches for a different girl with green eyes to say those words. But alas, his chance is long gone. And so is she. He has to move forward, for her and for the Cards and for Yue. After all, he still has _hope_. Hope for answers, hope for a future, hope for his family.

“Yeah, yeah, coming kid. But you better sneak me some of your aunt’s desert or else.” She laughs and picks him up. Her hands are delicate and small and nothing like a ninja’s should be. It’s a relief.

“Of course, I wouldn’t dare forget your precious desert. However, earing it…” Her grin widens.

He snorts ( _this kid, honestly_ ) but then quickly flies after her. “You wouldn’t dare, you little BRAT!”

The best option for him would be to sit and wait. He’ll observe the girl and see what she’ll do, and if it goes against what Sakura believed in… Well, his former Mistress _surely_ chose an alternative Successor, right?

For now, he’d sit and wait and observe, hoping to all the gods that the girl didn’t disappoint, that there was a reason she was chosen.

(This time, he’ll be the First Judge. He’ll see if the girl can make it as a Cardcaptor. Screw Yue.)

(And then maybe, someday he’d be able to call her by her name and _mean_ it. Later, if she _earns_ her name.)

(If she earns the title of Cardcaptor Sakura.)

(Kero hopes Sakura will forgive him if the girl doesn’t.)

(He’s never seen someone fail Judgement, but there are firsts for everything.)

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, the Uchiha and Kushina are alive, and I changed up Sakura's family a bit. This all has reason, which will be explained later on. Still looking for a beta


End file.
